Spatial frequency domain imaging: a quantitative, noninvasive tool for in vivo monitoring of burn wound and skin graft healing.

Gordon T Kennedy,Rebecca Rowland,Nicole Bernal,Randolph Stone,Jeffrey H Chen,Andrew C Kowalczewski,Adrien Ponticorvo,Anthony J Durkin,Melissa L Baldado,Robert J Christy

doi:10.1117/1.jbo.24.7.071615

Abstract

.There is a need for noninvasive, quantitative methods to characterize wound healing in the context of longitudinal investigations related to regenerative medicine. Such tools have the potential to inform the assessment of wound status and healing progression and aid the development of new treatments. We employed spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) to characterize the changes in optical properties of tissue during wound healing progression in a porcine model of split-thickness skin grafts and also in a model of burn wound healing with no graft intervention. Changes in the reduced scattering coefficient measured using SFDI correlated with structural changes reported by histology of biopsies taken concurrently. SFDI was able to measure spatial inhomogeneity in the wounds and predicted heterogeneous healing. In addition, we were able to visualize differences in healing rate, depending on whether a wound was debrided and grafted, versus not debrided and left to heal without intervention apart from topical burn wound care. Changes in the concentration of oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin were also quantified, giving insight into hemodynamic changes during healing.

Highlights

In the USA, there are ∼500;000 burn wounds that require medical attention and, of these, some 40,000 patients require hospitalization for their burn injuries.[1]
Using a porcine model of graded burn wounds, we showed that the reduced scattering coefficient was correlated with burn severity and that these characteristic changes in the reduced scattering can be measured within hours of the occurrence of a burn
We measured a decrease in the magnitude of the reduced scattering coefficient, which is consistent with previously reported results,[9] where the reduced scattering coefficient decreased as the burn severity increased

Summary

Introduction

In the USA, there are ∼500;000 burn wounds that require medical attention and, of these, some 40,000 patients require hospitalization for their burn injuries.[1] A large number of these patients will require skin grafts. The donor wounds re-epithelialize in 10 to 14 days and the autografted burns will accept a graft by day 5 and become fixed and durable in 10 to 14 days. The grafted burn heals with some degree of contraction and scarring, depending on the degree of the meshing, the depth of burn, and the timeliness of accurate burn wound assessment and surgical intervention.[3]

Methods

Results

Conclusion