Compact Low-Cost Fiberless Diffuse Speckle Contrast Flow-Oximeter

Abstract

A low-cost compact fiberless diffuse speckle contrast flow-meter includes a small laser diode and a 2-dimensional imaging device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) for directly contacting the tissue and measuring a parameter such as blood flow in a deep/thick volume of tissue (up to 10 mm depth). The small laser diode is fixed at a certain distance (0 to 20 mm) from the imaging device and directly contacts the tissue. Light emitted from the laser diode penetrates through the tissue and reflects back to the imaging device without passing through any lenses or fibers. One or more additional laser diodes may be added for producing light at different wavelengths, and the combination of measurements taken by the imaging device at the different wavelengths allows for measuring additional parameters, such as both blood flow and blood oxygenation