Structure-guided laser speckle contrast imaging for enhancing microvascular visualization in dual-display laparoscopy

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Surgical Technology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Intraoperative surgical decision-making benefits from real-time blood flow visualization.
• Dual-display laparoscopic imaging systems (DLIS) integrate laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) for simultaneous RGB and blood flow imaging.
• Traditional LSCI methods face challenges with noise and fixed-size windows, impacting visualization quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance real-time blood flow visualization for improved surgical guidance.
• To develop an adaptive LSCI method utilizing RGB image channels for better noise mitigation and detail capture.
• To improve the signal-to-noise ratio and vascular detail in LSCI compared to conventional techniques.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the G channel of RGB images to generate guide images for distinguishing vascular and non-vascular regions.
• Applied adaptive pixel selection criteria based on specific region types for noise reduction.
• Integrated these adaptive methods into a dual-display laparoscopic imaging system (DLIS).

Main Results:

• The proposed method demonstrated improved signal-to-noise ratio in both global and boundary areas compared to conventional LSCI.
• Achieved microvascular perfusion visualization with detail comparable to the original G channel RGB image.
• Successfully captured fine vascular structures and improved overall blood flow visualization.

Conclusions:

• The adaptive LSCI approach enhances blood flow visualization quality in a DLIS.
• This method offers a significant improvement over traditional LSCI for intraoperative surgical applications.
• Provides detailed and clear visualization of microvascular perfusion, aiding surgical precision.