Can blood flow in separate small tubes be quantitatively assessed by high-resolution laser Doppler imaging?

A method is suggested for quantitative flow assessment of whole-blood perfusing tubes with diameters in the range from 500 microns to 1.5 mm, for velocities below 9 mm s-1. The algorithm is based both on the Doppler broadening of backscattered laser light and the magnitude of the diameter of the perfused tube. A bandwidth-modified high-resolution laser Doppler perfusion imaging system is used to record the Doppler broadening. A flow model, consisting of a linearly narrowing tube (inner diameter 620-1330 microns), is connected to a precision infusion pump and perfused by human whole blood of volume flows ranging from 0 to 6.6 mm3 s-1. Empirical data are fitted into a regression model, and the parameters of the algorithm can be determined, resulting in a correlation coefficient of 0.975 between the predicted and true volume flows. Using this algorithm, volume flows in tubes of inner diameters of 500 microns, 750 microns and 1.4 mm are predicted, with accuracies corresponding to correlation coefficients of 0.994, 0.993 and 0.996.