Computer Automation of the Thermal Pulse Technique for Local Blood Flow Measurements

摘要

Tissue blood perfusion is a fundamental measurement in physiology that affects the entire spectrum of medical practice and research. A new and innovative method is under development by Dr. Kenneth R. Holmes and Dr. Michael M. Chen at the University of Illinois. Their thermal pulse-decay method utilizes a small thermistor to pulse heat the tissue under study. The thermistor is then used to record tissue temperature as the heat dissipates due to thermal conductivity and blood perfusion. From this cooling data, local blood perfusion can be calculated by various computer routines. The process of initiating and controlling the experiment, acquiring and storing the data, and calculating perfusion parameters has been computer automated. The system is based on a Digital Equipment Corporation LSI 11 minicomputer. The software package developed for the system is user oriented. It can control up to six probes at once, performing both heating and measurement tasks. The user is free to choose the duration of the heat pulses, as well as the sampling rate and sampling duration after the heat pulse. The program automatically generates a data file for each active probe.