Laser speckle contrast imaging for assessment of liver microcirculation

Laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) is a novel technique for microcirculation imaging not previously used in the liver. The aim of the present experimental study was to evaluate the use of LSCI for assessing liver microcirculation.

In six male Wistar rats, the median liver lobe was exposed through a midline laparotomy. Liver blood perfusion was measured simultaneously with LSCI and sidestream dark-field (SDF) imaging at baseline and during sequential temporary occlusions of the portal vein, hepatic artery, and total blood inflow occlusion. Both the inter-individual variability associated with perfusion sampling area and comparisons in perfusion measurements between both imaging techniques were investigated and validated for the application of LSCI in the liver.

Occlusion of the hepatic artery, portal vein, and total inflow occlusion resulted in a significant decrease in LSCI signal to 74.7±6.4%, 15.0±2.3%, and 10.4±0.5% respectively (p<0.005 vs. baseline). The LSCI perfusion units correlated with sinusoidal blood flow velocity as measured with SDF imaging (Pearson's r=0.94, p<0.001). In a 10 mm diameter region of interest, as measured with LSCI, baseline inter-individual variability measured by the coefficient of variability was 13%.

Alterations in LSCI signal during sequential inflow occlusions were in accordance with previously published results on hepatic hemodynamics in the rat and correlated well with our SDF imaging-derived sinusoidal blood flow velocity measurements. We found that LSCI was able to produce reproducible real-time blood perfusion measurements of hepatic microcirculation. Compared to established techniques for liver blood perfusion measurements LSCI holds the advantages of non-contact measurements over large surfaces with a high speed of data acquisition.