SBIR-STTR Award

The assessment of capillary blood flow is important for many medical procedures and conditions. Two optical coherent techniques, laser Doppler velocimetry and dynamic laser speckle, have been applied to measure blood flow velocities. The Laser Speckle Contrast Analysis method takes advantage of the advanced digital photography to extend the conventional laser speckle method to a nonscanning, full-field technique. The Phase I aim is to develop a laser speckle amplitude mapping technology for monitoring capillary blood flow velocity and demonstrate the accuracy of the technology at or better than that of the laser Doppler velocimetry. The goal of the project is to develop a low-cost device for quantitative monitoring of tissue perfusion. Phase I focuses on the feasibility demonstration to provide quantitative data on skin blood flow using animal models. A prototype will be developed in Phase II to use in a clinical study. The advantages of the proposed technique are faster, wider area coverage, simpler, noncontact, and better reproducibility.Proposed Commercial Application:The optical device will provide easy and noncontact monitoring of tissue viability for patients during and after plastic and reconstructive surgery involving flaps and digit reattachment, and during trauma treatment procedures. Commercial application includes diagnosing the conditions of burn patients, the extremities of diabetic patients, and for patients with increased vascular density such as skin cancer.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical equipment development, laser, monitoring device, patient monitoring device, perfusion, ultrasound blood flow measurement clinical biomedical equipment, computer system hardware bioimaging /biomedical imaging, swine

The objective is to develop a real-time, optical imaging device for measuring skin blood flow velocities. In Phase I, the technology of acquiring digitized blood velocities was developed to monitor areas of interest and the accuracy of a preliminary prototype was demonstrated animal models. Specific aims of Phase II include the development of an advanced prototype, improvement of algorithms developed in Phase I, a clinical study, evaluation and validation of the device, and an investigation of critical engineering issues for developing the commercial device in Phase III. Evaluation and validation of the advanced prototype and algorithms will be conducted on measurements of static and dynamic speckle, a porcine model, and human subjects. Potential innovations include the development of an integrated device for noncontact, real-time monitoring of tissue perfusion and the development of advanced algoriths of blood and tissue optics and optical imaging. Detection of changes in tissue vascular structure using this technology offers a means for regular, safe, and routine monitoring of patients. This technology has potential in assessing surgical procedures such as flaps, the treatment of vascular disease, the condition of diabetic complications, the progression of tumors and the condition of organs for transplant surgery. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The new device will provide real-time, noncontact, area imaging capabilities rather than point measurements as provided by laser Doppler flowmeters. Commercial applications include monitoring tissue viability for patients during and after plastic and reconstructive surgery involving flaps, digit reattachment, transplants, and vascular surgery, and during trauma treatment procedures.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical equipment development, computer data analysis, laser, patient monitoring device, perfusion, ultrasound blood flow measurement clinical biomedical equipment, computer program /software, computer system hardware, mathematical model, optics bioengineering /biomedical engineering, bioimaging /biomedical imaging, human subject, swine