Perioperative diffuse optical imaging of blood flow distributions for porcine skin flap viability assessment

Mastectomy skin flap necrosis remains a major complication in implant-based breast reconstruction due to inadequate tissue blood flow. Existing diagnostic technologies are limited by shallow depth sensitivity, dye-related risks, contact requirements, and an inability to continuously assess blood flow.

This study aimed to translate a noncontact, dye-free, depth-sensitive speckle contrast diffuse correlation tomography (scDCT) technique to a clinically relevant porcine skin flap model for assessing flap blood flow and viability.

The scDCT system was optimized to image blood flow over seven days in four porcine skin flaps including Sham (SH), Implant (IM), Half Necrosis (HN), and Full Necrosis (FN). Measurements were compared with indocyanine green angiography (ICG-A) as a reference standard.

scDCT enabled longitudinal monitoring of flap blood flow, revealing significant flow differences among flap types and over time. FN flaps consistently exhibited the most severe flow impairment, while other flap types showed partial or complete recovery over time, distinguishing nonviable from viable tissue. scDCT measurements demonstrated moderate to strong correlations with ICG-A across time points.

The findings support scDCT as a promising perioperative imaging modality for improving flap necrosis risk stratification and surgical decision-making, with future work focused on large-scale validation and clinical translation.