Microcirculation imaging with multicolor LEDs and mini CCD camera

Abstract

The microcirculation is defined as the smallest vessels where gas and nutrient are exchanged with tissues. In treatment of critical care, it is desired to monitor microcirculatory dysfunction to feedback it. The recent development of new imaging modalities such as Sidestream Dark Field (SDF) imaging has helped to directly investigate microcirculation for clinical and experimental studies. In this study, in order to acquire clinically useful information from more sophisticated analysis of the SDF images, we have made a trial model for SDF imaging. Four kinds of LEDs were attached to a miniature CCD camera to acquire images under proper illumination. First, we observed the blood flow in human sublingual micro-circulation and pig mucosal microcirculation. We then conducted an experiment on biological phantom to analyze micro-circulation of the oxygen saturation. In this paper, we present the principle and the specifications of the trial model as well as some images obtained in the experiments.