Simultaneous multiple site arteriolar vasomotion measurement using digital image analysis.
An automatic digital image processing technique for simultaneous vasomotion analysis in peripheral microcirculation at multiple sites and in real time is presented. The algorithm utilizes either fluorescent or bright field micro-images of the vasculature as input. The video images are digitized and analyzed on-line by an IBM RT PC, using digital filtering and edge detection. The sampling frequency is higher than 5 Hz when only one site is tracked and decreases as the number of sites is incremented. Performance of the algorithm was tested for a hamster cutaneous microcirculation model.