Abstract
SIGNIFICANCE: Hemoglobin oxygen saturation and red blood cell (RBC) tissue fraction are important parameters when assessing microvascular status. Functional information can be attained using temporally resolved measurements performed during stimulus-response protocols. Pointwise assessments can currently be conducted with probe-based systems. However, snapshot multispectral imaging (MSI) can be used for spatial-temporal measurements. AIM: To validate if hemoglobin oxygen saturation and RBC tissue fraction can be quantified using a snapshot MSI system and an inverse Monte Carlo algorithm. APPROACH: Skin tissue measurements from the MSI system were compared to those from a validated probe-based system during arterial and venous occlusion provocation on 24 subjects in the wavelength interval 450 to 650 nm, to evaluate a wide range of hemoglobin oxygen saturation and RBC tissue fraction levels. RESULTS: Arterial occlusion results show a mean linear regression R2 = 0.958 for hemoglobin oxygen saturation. Comparing relative RBC tissue fraction during venous occlusion results in R2 = 0.925. The MSI system shows larger dynamic changes than the reference system, which might be explained by a deeper sampling including more capacitance vessels. CONCLUSIONS: The snapshot MSI system estimates hemoglobin oxygen saturation and RBC tissue fraction in skin microcirculation showing a high correlation (R2 > 0.9 in most subjects) with those measured by the reference method.