title: Real-time blood flow visualization using the graphics processing unit.
abstract: Laser speckle imaging (LSI) is a technique in which coherent light incident on a surface produces a reflected speckle pattern that is related to the underlying movement of optical scatterers, such as red blood cells, indicating blood flow. Image-processing algorithms can be applied to produce speckle flow index (SFI) maps of relative blood flow. We present a novel algorithm that employs the NVIDIA Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) platform to perform laser speckle image processing on the graphics processing unit. Software written in C was integrated with CUDA and integrated into a LabVIEW Virtual Instrument (VI) that is interfaced with a monochrome CCD camera able to acquire high-resolution raw speckle images at nearly 10 fps. With the CUDA code integrated into the LabVIEW VI, the processing and display of SFI images were performed also at ∼10 fps. We present three video examples depicting real-time flow imaging during a reactive hyperemia maneuver, with fluid flow through an in vitro phantom, and a demonstration of real-time LSI during laser surgery of a port wine stain birthmark.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1002 Health Sciences Road, Irvine, California 92612, USA. yango@uci.edu
authors.forename: Owen
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cuccia
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D001158:Arteries / Q000502:physiology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003199:Computer Systems; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007834:Lasers; D012212:Rheology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*