Burns or other disorders that disrupt the blood flow in tissues will soon be easier to assess thanks to a camera that is capable of imaging blood circulation in real time.
Compared to an earlier version, the new optical perfusion camera (TOPCam) from Twente, the Netherlands, is a significant improvement with regard to speed, so that even small variations in blood circulation are immediately visible. The camera is now ready for clinical application. Researchers of the Institute for Biomedical Technology (BMTI) of the University of Twente are publishing an article on the camera in the March number of Optics Express.
After earlier successful tests at the Martini Hospital in Groningen, the Netherlands, the researchers have made a number of significant improvements to the camera. The speed of the earlier version was commended by doctors and nurses, but real-time images of variations in the blood circulation were not yet possible. They are now, though, according to researcher Wiendelt Steenbergen: “We can now see rapid variations in blood circulation, too, for example when the circulation gets going again after occlusion of an arm or after a transplant.” The measured reaction gives an immediate impression of the condition of the vascular bed.