Short-range diffuse correlation spectroscopic system for peripheral skin tissue blood flow assessment: in-vitro studies

Assessment of blood perfusion from superficial layers would aid in monitoring the microcirculation and help diagnose numerous diseases involving altered microcirculation. Diffuse optical correlation spectroscopy looks at the correlation between temporal statistics of backscattered intensity from tissue surface upon illumination and has been a promising tool for tissue vascularity assessment. This work uses diffuse correlation spectroscopy operated in short source-to-detector separation to quantify microcirculation. Finite element models and simulations are validated with in-vitro skin flow models. The comparison returned a high correlation between the simulation and experimental models, proving short-range DCS's capability in assessing microcirculation.