Near-infrared Speckle Contrast Diffuse Correlation Tomography for Noncontact Imaging of Tissue Blood Flow Distribution

Imaging of tissue blood flow (BF) distributions provides vital  information for the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of various  vascular diseases. The innovative near-infrared speckle contrast diffuse  correlation tomography (scDCT) technique produces full 3D BF  distributions. Many advanced features are provided over competing  technologies including high sampling density, fast data acquisition,  noninvasiveness, noncontact, affordability, portability, and  translatability across varied subject sizes. The basic principle,  instrumentation, and data analysis algorithms are presented in detail.  The extensive applications are summarized such as imaging of cerebral BF  (CBF) in mice, rat, and piglet animals with skull penetration into deep  brain. Clinical human testing results are described by recovery of BF  distributions on preterm infants (CBF) through incubator wall, and on  sensitive burn tissues and mastectomy skin flaps without direct  device-tissue interactions. Supporting activities outlined include  integrated capability for acquiring surface curvature information, rapid  2D blood flow mapping, and optimizations via tissue-like phantoms and  computer simulations. These applications and activities both highlight  and guide the reader as to the expected abilities and limitations of  scDCT for adapting into their own preclinical/clinical research, use in  constrained environments (i.e., neonatal intensive care unit bedside),  and use on vulnerable subjects and measurement sites.