Compact and cost-effective laser-powered speckle contrast optical spectroscopy fiber-free device for measuring cerebral blood flow

• Published in: Journal of biomedical optics Vol. 29; no. 6; p. 067001
• Main Authors: Huang, Yu Xi, Mahler, Simon, Dickson, Maya, Abedi, Aidin, Tyszka, Julian Michael, Lo, Yu Tung, Russin, Jonathan, Liu, Charles, Yang, Changhuei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers 01.06.2024; SPIE
• Subjects: Blood flow; Brain - blood supply; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiology; Cerebrovascular Circulation - physiology; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Equipment Design; Humans; Infrared spectroscopy; Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging - instrumentation; Lasers; Reproducibility of Results; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Spectrum Analysis - instrumentation; Wearable Electronic Devices; California; laser speckle imaging; cerebral blood flow; noninvasive brain imaging; biomedical optics; diffuse correlation spectroscopy; speckle contrast optical spectroscopy
• ISSN: 1083-3668; 1560-2281; 1560-2281
• DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.29.6.067001

In the realm of cerebrovascular monitoring, primary metrics typically include blood pressure, which influences cerebral blood flow (CBF) and is contingent upon vessel radius. Measuring CBF noninvasively poses a persistent challenge, primarily attributed to the difficulty of accessing and obtaining signal from the brain. Our study aims to introduce a compact speckle contrast optical spectroscopy device for noninvasive CBF measurements at long source-to-detector distances, offering cost-effectiveness, and scalability while tracking blood flow (BF) with remarkable sensitivity and temporal resolution. The wearable sensor module consists solely of a laser diode and a board camera. It can be easily placed on a subject's head to measure BF at a sampling rate of 80 Hz. Compared to the single-fiber-based version, the proposed device achieved a signal gain of about 70 times, showed superior stability, reproducibility, and signal-to-noise ratio for measuring BF at long source-to-detector distances. The device can be distributed in multiple configurations around the head. Given its cost-effectiveness, scalability, and simplicity, this laser-centric tool offers significant potential in advancing noninvasive cerebral monitoring technologies.