Optical Blood Flow Imaging System

2024: Product Creation

In February 2024, Sechenov University announced the development of the first Russian optical blood flow imaging system for neurosurgeons. This technology, according to its creators, will be able to replace contrast agents for cerebral blood flow in neurosurgical operations, which will reduce the risks of complications both during the intervention and after it.

The device, which is being developed by a team of scientists from the I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the Academician N. N. Burdenko National Medical Research Center for Neurosurgery, uses the principles of registering backscattered laser infrared radiation from moving red blood cells using a camera. When laser radiation hits the surface of the vessel, speckles (structures formed by the interaction of light and moving red blood cells) are formed. By recording images of these structures and their further processing, the presence or absence of blood flow can be determined and its dynamics can be observed on the operational monitor without the need for contrast agents.

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By February 2024, doctors do not have the ability to continuously track the movement of blood in the vessels during neurosurgical interventions. However, in cases where the restoration of cerebral blood flow is required, for example, in the treatment of aneurysms, this is important information for doctors during surgery. Typically, surgeons use an ultrasonic Doppler sensor or contrast techniques to obtain data on the state of blood flow, which require the installation of special catheters in the veins and surgical manipulations. In addition, these methods do not provide continuous control of blood flow in the vessels. The new development will overcome these shortcomings.^[1]

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