Using blood flow pulsatility to improve the accuracy of laser speckle contrast imaging in the assessment of burns.

OBJECTIVES

Measurement of perfusion is an established method to evaluate the depth of burns. However, high accuracy is only achievable >48 h after injury. The aim of the study was to investigate if measurement of blood flow pulsatility, combined with perfusion measurement, can improve early assessment of burn depth using laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI).

METHODS

Perfusion and pulsatility were measured with LSCI in 187 regions of interest in 32 patients, between 0 and 5 days after injury. The reproducibility of pulsatility was tested for recording durations between 1 and 12 s. The most reproducible duration was chosen, and receiver operator characteristics were created to find suitable pulsatility cut-offs to predict surgical need.

RESULTS

A measurement duration of 8 s resulted in a good reproducibility of the pulsatility (%CV: 15.9%). Longer measurement durations resulted in a small improvement of the accuracy of the assessment. A pulsatility of <1.45 (Perfusion Units) on day 0-2 after injury predicted surgical need with a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI: 83.2-100%), specificity of 100% (95% CI: 95.2-100%), a positive predictive value of 100%, and a negative predictive value of 100%. Pulsatility was not significantly different when comparing measurements done day 0-2 to day 3-5. Perfusion was however significantly higher day 3-5 compared to day 0-2 for wounds healing within 3 weeks.

CONCLUSION

Measurement of pulsatility improves the accuracy of the assessment of burns with LSCI and makes it possible to predict the need for surgery during day 0-2 after injury with a high accuracy.