Laser Doppler Flowmetry Measurements of Superficial Dermal, Deep Dermal and Subdermal Burns

Abstract

The microcirculation in burned patients' skin has been studied on day 3 after the accident with Laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF). A schedule for interpretation of LDF values has been designed.

A new, fast LDI for assessment of burns: A multi-centre clinical evaluation

“…Clinical prediction of burn depth has been found to be only 65% to 75% accurate compared with biopsy [6,15,9,24]. The current clinical trial finds that assessments which include LDLS imaging can accurately define healing potential in over 90% of cases.…”

“…Good skin blood flow is essential for early burn wound healing. Early studies using the laser Doppler monitoring technique showed a strong correlation between skin blood flow and healing time or need for surgery [6][7][8]. The laser Doppler imaging technique for skin blood flow mapping was introduced by Niazi et al [9] and has become more widely used to aid routine burn assessments [5,[10][11][12] and comparison of treatments [13,14] in recent years.…”

Assessment of burn depth and burn wound healing potential

“…In the original Doppler flowmetry a fiber optic probe in direct contact with the burn wound was used to assess microcirculation 1 mm below the point of probe tissue contact. Initial studies of burns with the laser Doppler technique were performed by Alsbjorn et al [45]. Baseline measurements and measurements following local heating were made, using a contact probe and rules were derived that defined wounds of different depths that were histologically assessed as either superficial dermal, deep dermal or subdermal.…”

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

“…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. They found that the laser Doppler correlated closely to histology and was superior to clinical judgment.…”