Noncontact Speckle Contrast Diffuse Correlation Tomography of Blood Flow Distributions in Burn Wounds: A Preliminary Study

Introduction: Tissue injuries are often associated with abnormal blood flow (BF). The ability to assess BF distributions in injured tissues enables objective evaluation of interventions and holds the potential to improve the acute management of these injuries on battlefield. Materials and Methods: We have developed a novel speckle contrast diffuse correlation tomography (scDCT) system for noncontact 3D imaging of tissue BF distributions. In scDCT, a galvo mirror was used to remotely project near-infrared point light to different source positions and an electron multiplying charge-coupled-device was used to detect boundary diffuse speckle contrasts. The normalized boundary data were then inserted into a modified Near-Infrared Fluorescence and Spectral Tomography program for 3D reconstructions of BF distributions. This article reports the first application of scDCT for noncontact 3D imaging of BF distributions in burn wounds. Results: Significant lower BF values were observed in the burned areas/volumes compared to surrounding normal tissues. Conclusions: The unique noncontact 3D imaging capability makes the scDCT applicable for intraoperative assessment of burns/wounds, without risk of infection and without interfering with sterility of the surgical field. The portable scDCT device holds the potential to be used by surgeons in combat surgical hospitals to improve the acute management of battlefield burn injuries.