Clinical use of Laser Doppler Flowmetry in a Burns Unit

Abstract

Laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF) is a new noninvasive technique by which microcirculation changes in tissue can be studied. This has been done in a Burns Unit on burned as well as non-burned patients (volunteers). There were no infection problems with this device in a Burns Unit. Four kHz was the upper wave length limit analysing the doppler signal from burns. A topical temperature load test was defined and used in different situations. Homogeneous flows in reference points from a control group were demonstrated in unheated and heated skin, in this way standardizing the LDF analyses of skin microflow. Ability of LDF to define different degrees of burns was demonstrated.

Biomechanical monitoring of cutaneous sulfur mustard‐induced lesions in the weanling pig model for depth of injury

“…A 90-s measurement was taken with data collected for the last 30 s over a 1-cm 2 area under a protective tent to minimize the effect of laboratory air currents. Laser Doppler perfusion imaging (LDPI) evaluated cutaneous microcirculation (blood flux) using the MoorLDIt laser Doppler (Moor Instruments Inc., Wilmington, DE, USA) (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30). The MoorLDIt settings were DC gain 5 0, flux gain 5 0, conc gain 5 2 (all gains were set against normal pig skin), background threshold 5 200, distance 5 20 cm, scan size 5 large, scan speed 5 10 ms/pixel, DC image resolution 5 256 Â 256 pixels, and blood flux units set to 'perfusion.'…”

Burn wound depth assessment – is laser Doppler imaging the best measurement tool available?

“…The ideal method of analysis of burn depth should be non invasive, safe and acceptable to the patients, user‐friendly and cost‐effective (7,25). Laser Doppler appears to meet most criteria — it is non contact and non invasive, painless, easy to perform and virtually no interoperator error.…”

“…Micheels et al . (7) published the first reported use of laser Doppler for assessing burn depth. Alsbjourn et al .…”

Critical Review of Burn Depth Assessment Techniques: Part I. Historical Review

“…Their follow-up study tested the ability to measure microcirculation in a burn wound and the ability to measure the effect of vasodilatation. 108 They showed a correlation between the clinical assessment of burn depth and the local blood flow. In their final study, 109 they scanned 15 burn patients on the third postinjury day and compared the measurements from the laser to clinical judgment and wound biopsies.…”