[OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 21, No. 3 (2014) 345-352]
© 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics
Frame-Rate Analysis of Arterial Blood Flow in Human and Rat Using Laser Speckle Image Sensing
Naomichi YOKOI1, Junki SATO2, Yuichi SHIMATANI3, Masaki KYOSO3, Hideki FUNAMIZU2, and Yoshihisa AIZU2
1Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Asahikawa National College of Technology, Asahikawa, Hokkaido 071-8142, Japan
2Division of Science for Composite Functions, Muroran Institute of Technology, Muroran, Hokkaido 050-8585, Japan
3Biomedical Engineering Department, Tokyo City University, Setagaya, Tokyo 158-8557, Japan
(Received October 2, 2013; Accepted December 3, 2013)
In imaging of blood flow by means of a laser speckle technique, we have proposed so far an estimation parameter based on the spatial contrast of speckle patterns observed for the blood flow in skin tissue and a blood vessel. This parameter enable us to image a relative blood flow distribution from a single speckle pattern, thus, it analyzes the blood flow with a frame-rate of an imaging device used. In this study, we investigated availability of this parameter for detecting changes in arterial blood flow caused by medication and cold stimulation to the skin tissue. Experiments were conducted for an anesthetized rat and a human wrist to confirm the feasibility of the present parameter.
Key words: speckle imaging, blood flow, image processing