Quantification of volumetric cerebral blood flow using hybrid laser speckle contract and optical coherence tomography (Conference Presentation)

Abstract

Studying neurovascular blood flow function in cerebrovascular activities requires accurate visualization and characterization of blood flow volume as well as the dynamics of blood cells in microcirculation. In this study, we present a novel integration of laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) for rapid volumetric imaging of blood flow in cortical capillaries. LSCI uses the illumination of wide-field near infrared light (NIR) and monitors back scattered light to characterize the relative dynamics of blood flow in microcirculation. Absolute measurement of blood cells and blood volume requires high-resolution volumetric structural information. SD-OCT system uses coherence gating to measure scattered light from a small volume within high structural resolution. The structural imaging system rapidly assesses large number of capillaries for spatio-temporal tracking of red blood cells (RBC). A very fast-ultra resolution SD-OCT system was developed for imaging high-resolution volumetric samples. The system employed an ultra wideband light source (1310 ± 200 nm in wavelength) corresponding to an axial resolution of 3 micrometers in tissue. The spectrometer of the SD-OCT was customized for a maximum scanning rate of 147,000 line/s. We demonstrated a fast volumetric OCT angiography algorithm to visualize large numbers of vessels in a 2-mm deep sample volume. A LSCI system that has been developed previously in our group was integrated to the imaging system for the characterization of dynamic blood cells. The conjunction data from LSCI and SD-OCT systems imply the feasibility of accurate quantification of absolute cortical blood flow.