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Laser measurement of myocardial blood flow
1Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Mie University School of Medicine, Tsu, Japan.
Abstract:
A He-Ne laser flowmeter (wavelength: 632.8 nm, power: 2 mW) has already been used to measure blood flow in skin, muscle, and mucosa. However, the application of this flowmeter for the beating heart has been left undeveloped due to its difficulty. For the purpose of establishment of the laser measurement of myocardial blood flow, we redesigned a flow probe to be small and light and used a connecting paste to support the subepicardial flow probe. After resolving many obstacles, the noninvasive and real-time blood flow measurement of the beating heart was made possible. The flow volume in subendocardial myocardium was greater than the volume in subepicardial myocardium, and the average ratio of subendocardial flow to subepicardial flow was 1.62 +/- 0.21.