System and method for rapid examination of vasculature and particulate flow using laser speckle contrast imaging
Inventors
Rege, Abhishek • Brooke, M. Jason • Murari, Kartikeya • Liu, Yusi
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-11666238-B2
Publication Date
2023-06-06
Expiration Date
Abstract
Examination of the structure and function of blood vessels is an important means of monitoring the health of a subject. Such examination can be important for disease diagnoses, monitoring specific physiologies over the short- or long-term, and scientific research. This disclosure describes technology and various embodiments of a system and method for imaging blood vessels and the intra-vessel blood flow, using at least laser speckle contrast imaging, with high speed so as to provide a rapid estimate of vessel-related or blood flow-related parameters.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to a method of rapid examination of particulate flow using laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) with real-time or near-real-time visualization. A stack of one or more speckle image frames is acquired and processed to calculate laser speckle contrast values, thereby generating one or more laser speckle contrast images.
The calculated laser speckle contrast images are processed to estimate anatomical and physiological information and to generate a visualizable representation for presentation. The anatomical information comprises one or more of vessel diameter, vessel tortuosity, vessel density in a region of interest or sub-region of the region of interest, depth of a vessel, length of a vessel, and type of blood vessel, while the physiological information comprises one or more of blood flow, blood velocity, change in blood flow, change in blood velocity, and spatial distribution of blood flow.
The method is repeated to generate real-time or near-real-time visualization and may present the anatomical and physiological information, parameters, or raw data for visualization. In addition, calculating a laser speckle contrast value at any pixel uses data from the pixel and the pixel’s adjacent spatial and temporal neighborhood, including corresponding pixels from a predetermined number of adjacent previously acquired image frames, and data from any image frame is used to calculate second laser speckle contrast values for at least one subsequently acquired image frame.
Claims Coverage
Independent claims clm-00001, clm-00013, and clm-00016 each cover a rapid LSCI examination workflow, with three inventive-feature groupings across the independent claims: rapid multi-frame contrast computation with near-real-time repetition; estimation and visualization of vessel-specific anatomical and blood-flow physiological information; and overlay/illumination-receiving specifics tied to surgical instrumentation and pixel-wise spatiotemporal neighborhood contrast computation.
Rapid multi-frame acquisition and laser speckle contrast images
Acquiring a stack of one or more speckle image frames; processing the stack to calculate laser speckle contrast values to generate one or more laser speckle contrast images.
Anatomical and physiological estimation with visualizable representation
Processing the one or more laser speckle contrast images to calculate, estimate, or determine anatomical and physiological information and to generate a visualizable representation of said anatomical and physiological information.
Real-time or near-real-time repeated visualization
Repeating the method of rapid examination of particulate flow to generate real-time or near-real-time visualization, while presenting the anatomical and physiological information, parameters calculated at the first processing step or second processing step, or raw data from the stack of one or more speckle image frames for visualization.
Vessel and blood-flow parameterization for anatomical/physiological information
Where the anatomical information comprises one or more of vessel diameter, vessel tortuosity, vessel density in a region of interest or sub-region of the region of interest, depth of a vessel, length of a vessel, and type of blood vessel; and the physiological information comprises one or more of blood flow, blood velocity, change in blood flow, change in blood velocity, and spatial distribution of blood flow each of which may be specific to the region of interest, a sub-region of the region of interest, an individual blood vessel, or a group of connected or disconnected individual blood vessels.
Overlay in a field of view of a surgical instrument
Presenting the anatomical and physiological information, parameters calculated at the first processing step or second processing step, or raw data from the stack of one or more speckle image frames for visualization as an overlay in a field of view of a surgical instrument.
Pseudo-color or numerical representation predetermined or customizable during use
Where the visualizable representation comprises pseudo-color representation that may be predetermined or customizable during use or numerical representation with a format that is predetermined or customizable during use.
Illumination, reception, frame generation, and pixel spatiotemporal neighborhood contrast computation
Generating first coherent light to illuminate a target tissue; receiving light reflected or scattered by the target tissue; generating, based on the received light, image data comprising a plurality of image frames; and calculating laser speckle contrast values for the image data, wherein calculating a laser speckle contrast value at any pixel in any image frame includes using data from the pixel and the pixel's adjacent spatial and temporal neighborhood comprising one or more additional pixels in the same image frame and corresponding pixels from a predetermined number of adjacent previously acquired image frames, and wherein data from any image frame is also used to calculate second laser speckle contrast values for at least one subsequently acquired image frame.
Across the independent claims, the core coverage is a repeated, rapid method that acquires a stack of speckle image frames, computes laser speckle contrast images, estimates vessel anatomical metrics and blood-flow physiological information, and provides visualization in real-time or near-real-time. Additional independent-claim coverage specifies overlay visualization in a surgical instrument field of view with pseudo-color or numerical representations, and specifies coherent illumination/reception with pixel-level laser speckle contrast computation using adjacent spatial and temporal neighborhood data from previously acquired frames.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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