Laser Doppler imaging

Laser Doppler imaging (LDI) is an imaging method that uses a laser beam to image live tissue. When the laser light reaches the tissue, the moving blood cells generate Doppler components in the reflected (backscattered) light. The light that comes back is detected using a photodiode that converts it into an electrical signal. Then the signal is processed to calculate a signal that is proportional to the tissue perfusion in the imaged area. When the process is completed, the signal is processed to generate an image that shows the perfusion on a screen. The laser Doppler effect was first used to measure microcirculation by Stern M.D. in 1975. It is used widely in medicine, some representative research work about it are these: