Developments in Blood Perfusion Measurements Using the Forced Convection Approach

This paper reports on an investigation into the relationship between blood perfusion in the tissues of the limbs and thermal measurements at the skin surface during cooling under an array of impinging air jets. The technique is known as the forced convection approach. The objective was to address a number of the simplifying assumptions made in previous studies in order to establish the feasibility of measuring perfusion using this technique. The study is concerned with investigating the thermal aspects rather than the physiological reasons for a given perfusion measurement. Advances from previous studies are made in the area of modeling where magnetic resonance imaging scans of the test subject’s leg are used to develop more physiologically realistic models. A new technique is then outlined to simultaneously assess skin and muscle perfusion from one noninvasive test at the skin surface. It is established that the sensitivity of the forced convection approach, when based on surface temperature measurements, is not high enough to allow an accurate determination of perfusion. Future work will use nonbiological mock-ups to investigate the capabilities of the method proposed for measuring skin and muscle perfusion simultaneously. If this testing is successful, a study will be conducted on the application of this approach to other thermal perfusion measurement techniques.