NONINVASIVE MEASUREMENT OF MICROCIRCULATION IN MAN

A NONINVASIVE, PORTABLE, VIDEO BIOMICROSCOPY SYSTEM BASED ONAN IBM-AT-COMPATIBLE COMPUTER WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR STUDYINGTHE TERMINAL VASCULAR BED IN THE HUMAN BULBAR CONJUNCTIVA (WHITE OF THE EYE). SIGNIFICANT CHANGES HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN THE MICROCIRCULATORY NETWORK PRIOR TO MANIFESTATION OF CLINICAL SIGNS IN CERTAIN DISEASES. RECENT ADVANCES IN MICROCOMPUTER-BASED IMAGE-PROCESSING TECHNIQUES ALLOW EFFICIENT MEASUREMENTS OF MORPHOLOGICAL INFORMATION, VOLUMETRIC BLOOD-FLOW RATE, AND VESSEL DIAMETER TO OBTAIN QUANTITATIVE INDICES OF THE STATUS OF THEMICROCIRCULATION. VIDEO IMAGES OF THE EYE TAKEN THROUGH A SLIT LAMP WILL BE USED FOR ANALYSIS, AND VARIOUS DISEASES AND AGING MODELS CAN BE ESTABLISHED BASED ON THE MICROCIRCULATION. SUCH AN INSTRUMENT CAN POTENTIALLY BE USED AS A GENERAL SCREENING DEVICE, AN EARLY DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR DISEASES, A PROGNOSTIC TOOL FOR FOLLOWING DISEASE PROCESSES, A TOOL FOR DRUG EVALUATION BY MEASURING QUANTITATIVE CHANGES OF THE MICROCIRCULATION IN RESPONSE TO MEDICATION, A MEANS FOR MONITORING THE AGING PROCESS, AND A WAY TO EVALUATE THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF A PATIENT'S CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM. THE ADVANTAGE OF THIS SYSTEM IS THAT IT IS NONINVASIVE, FAST, PORTABLE, AND LOW COST, AND IT REQUIRES LITTLE TRAINING AND NO CHEMICAL SUPPLIES.