A non-contacting method to measure skin blood flow (SkBF) in human extremities that is both simple and accurate could be invaluable in the diagnosis and management of several clinical conditions. For excample, measurement of SkBF in the digit(s) can be useful in the diagnosis and management of Peripheral Arterial Disease, often associated with Type 2 diabetes (Petrofsky et al., 2008). Skin blood flow in the foot can be an indicator of successful infrainguinal revascularization surgery in patients with lower limb ischemia (Saucy et al., 2006; Yamada et al., 2008). Assessment of peripheral perfusion can be useful in determining hemodynamic stability of patients suffering from acute circulatory shock (Lima et al., 2009) or circulatory failure (Lima and Bakker, 2005). One proposed method for non-contact measurement of SkBF incorporates a radio frequency (RF) energy source for non-contact heating of the dermis to the depth of the sub-papillary plexus (approx. 300 - 700 μm). Irradiation of the skin surface results in a rate of tempreature increase which varies as the inverse of the rate of skin blood flow (Nelson et al., 2003). Simultaneous remote measurement of the skin surface temperature would enable inference of the blood flow rate per unit skin volume (Walters et al., 2004).
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