The perfusion of a burn injury can now rapidly be determined by using improved laser doppler technology.

The new measuring device, developed by researchers at the University of Twente (Enschede, The Netherlands) generates a perfusion image made by a laser and an ultra fast camera, capable of imaging a surface area of ten by ten centimeters in a fraction of a second. In order to reach this high speed, the entire surface is lit at once using a wide laser beam. A high-speed camera, capable of taking 27,000 shots per second, takes images of the tissue. Whenever laser light is scattered by moving red blood cells, the intensity of the pixels is altered and a color shift becomes visible, due to the Doppler effect. From the resulting 'movie' of the tissue, a perfusion image can be made.

Compared to current perfusion measurements, the new technique is much faster. Tests at Martini Ziekenhuis Hospital (Groningen, The Netherlands) have shown that the system is capable of measuring differences in burn wound perfusion, and supplying high-speed, quality images. The system was developed under the supervision of Dr. Wiendelt Steenbergen, Ph.D., of the biophysical engineering group at Twente. The researchers predict other applications for the technology, such as the assessment of medication uptake through the skin, allergic reactions testing, or the evaluation of diabetic microcirculation problems.

The Doppler effect, named after Christian Doppler, is the apparent change in frequency and wavelength of a wave as perceived by an observer moving relative to the source of the waves. For waves that propagate in a medium, such as tissue, the velocity of the observer and the velocity of the source are relative to the medium in which the waves are transmitted.

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