Advancing intraoperative cerebral blood flow monitoring:integrating imaging photoplethysmography and laser speckle contrast imaging in neurosurgery

Abstract

Intraoperative assessment of cerebral hemodynamics is crucial for the success of neurosurgical interventions. This study evaluates the potential of laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and imaging photoplethysmography (IPPG) for contactless perfusion monitoring during neurosurgery. Despite similarities in their hardware requirements, these techniques rely on fundamentally different principles: light scattering for LSCI and light absorption for IPPG. Comparative experiments were conducted using animals (rats) when assessing the reaction of cerebral hemodynamics to adenosine triphosphate infusion. The results show different spatial and temporal characteristics of the techniques: LSCI predominantly visualizes blood flow in large venous vessels, especially in the sagittal and transverse sinuses, showing a pronounced modulation associated with the heart that cannot be explained by venous blood flow alone. In contrast, IPPG quantifies the dynamics of perfusion changes in the parenchyma, showing minimal signal in large venous vessels. We propose that LSCI signal modulation is significantly influenced by the movement of vessel walls in response to mechanical pressure waves propagating through the parenchyma from nearby arteries. A novel algorithm for LSCI data processing was developed based on this interpretation, producing perfusion indices that align well with IPPG measurements. This study demonstrates that the complementary nature of these techniques (LSCI is sensitive to blood cells displacements, while IPPG detects a change in their density) makes their combined application particularly valuable for comprehensive assessment of cerebral hemodynamics during neurosurgery. Graphical Abstract:

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-025-00163-5
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Engineering and Technology > Mechanical, Biomedical & Design
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Engineering for Health
College of Health & Life Sciences
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
Aston University (General)
Additional Information: Copyright © 2025. The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you willneed to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Uncontrolled Keywords: Cerebral perfusion monitoring,Neurosurgery,Blood flow visualization,Laser speckle contrast imaging,Imaging photoplethysmography
Publication ISSN: 2095-2767
Last Modified: 06 Oct 2025 17:23
Date Deposited: 30 Sep 2025 09:06
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://link.sp ... 200-025-00163-5 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2025-09-26
Published Online Date: 2025-09-26
Accepted Date: 2025-09-03
Submitted Date: 2025-04-09
Authors: Kamshilin, Alexei A.
Konovalov, Anton N.
Grebenev, Fyodor V.
Kozlov, Igor O.
Stavtsev, Dmitry D.
Piavchenko, Gennadii A.
Nippolainen, Ervin
Zaytsev, Valeriy V.
Sokolov, Alexey Y.
Telyshev, Dmitry V.
Kuznetsov, Sergei L.
Romashko, Roman V.
Meglinski, Igor V. (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-7613-8191)

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