DCS blood flow index underestimates skeletal muscle perfusion in vivo: rationale and early evidence for the NIRS-DCS perfusion index

Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) permits non-invasive assessment of skeletal muscle blood flow but may misestimate changes in muscle perfusion. We aimed to highlight recent evidence that DCS blood flow index (BFI) misestimates changes in muscle blood flow during physiological perturbation and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of biomedical optics 2024-02, Vol.29 (2), p.020501-020501
Main Authors: Bartlett, Miles F., Oneglia, Andrew P., Ricard, Mark D., Siddiqui, Ashfaq, Englund, Erin K., Buckley, Erin M., Hueber, Dennis M., Nelson, Michael D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blood Flow Velocity
Hand Strength
JBO Letters
Letter
Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
Perfusion
Perfusion Index
Regional Blood Flow - physiology
Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared - methods
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Summary:Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) permits non-invasive assessment of skeletal muscle blood flow but may misestimate changes in muscle perfusion. We aimed to highlight recent evidence that DCS blood flow index (BFI) misestimates changes in muscle blood flow during physiological perturbation and to introduce a novel approach that adjusts BFI for estimated changes in vasodilation. We measured changes in muscle BFI during quadriceps and forearm exercises using DCS, the latter of which were adjusted for estimated changes in microvascular flow area and then compared to Doppler ultrasound in the brachial artery. Then, we compared adjusted BFI- and arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI measures of gastrocnemius blood flow during reactive hyperemia and plantar flexion exercise. We observed little-to-no change in quadriceps BFI during maximal-effort exercise. Similarly, forearm BFI was modestly increased during handgrip exercise, but the magnitude was significantly lower than measured by Doppler ultrasound in the brachial artery. However, this difference was ameliorated after adjusting BFI for estimated changes in microvascular flow area. Similar observations were also observed in the gastrocnemius when directly comparing the adjusted BFI values to ASL-MRI. Adjusting BFI for estimated changes in microvascular flow area may improve DCS estimates of muscle blood flow, but further study is needed to validate these methods moving forward.
ISSN:1083-3668
1560-2281
1560-2281
DOI:10.1117/1.JBO.29.2.020501