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MDPI, Diagnostics, 12(10), p. 1054, 2020

DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics10121054

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Semi-Automatic Tracking of Laser Speckle Contrast Images of Microcirculation in Diabetic Foot Ulcers

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Postprint: archiving allowed
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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Foot ulcers are a severe complication of diabetes mellitus. Assessment of the vascular status of diabetic foot ulcers with Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) is a promising approach for diagnosis and prognosis. However, manual assessment during analysis of LSCI limits clinical applicability. Our aim was to develop and validate a fast and robust tracking algorithm for semi-automatic analysis of LSCI data. The feet of 33 participants with diabetic foot ulcers were recorded with LSCI, including at baseline, during the Post-Occlusive Reactive Hyperemia (PORH) test, and during the Buerger’s test. Different regions of interest (ROIs) were used to measure microcirculation in different areas of the foot. A tracking algorithm was developed in MATLAB to reposition the ROIs in the LSCI scans. Manual- and algorithm-tracking of all recordings were compared by calculating the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). The algorithm was faster in comparison with the manual approach (90 s vs. 15 min). Agreement between manual- and algorithm-tracking was good to excellent during baseline (ICC = 0.896–0.984; p < 0.001), the PORH test (ICC = 0.790–0.960; p < 0.001), and the Buerger’s test (ICC = 0.851–0.978; p < 0.001), resulting in a tracking algorithm that delivers assessment of LSCI in diabetic foot ulcers with results comparable to a labor-intensive manual approach, but with a 10-fold workload reduction.