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Assessment of subchondral bone blood flow in the rabbit femoral condyle using the laser speckle method
Author(s) -
Fukuoka Shinji,
Hotokebuchi Takao,
Terada Kazumasa,
Kobara Nobuo,
Fujii Hitoshi,
Sugioka Yoichi,
Iwamoto Yukihide
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of orthopaedic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.041
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1554-527X
pISSN - 0736-0266
DOI - 10.1002/jor.1100170311
Subject(s) - femoral condyle , rabbit (cipher) , speckle pattern , femoral bone , blood flow , biomedical engineering , condyle , laser doppler velocimetry , laser , medicine , anatomy , materials science , femur , optics , computer science , surgery , physics , cartilage , computer security
The laser speckle method is a new form of flowmetry that can obtain a two‐dimensional distribution of blood flow in tissue. This method is a noncontact, simple, and rapid technique that may aid in the diagnosis of osteonecrosis. We investigated whether the subchondral bone blood flow within the femoral condyles of rabbits could be measured by the laser speckle method. The hydrogen washout method was chosen as a comparison technique because of its ability to allow repetitive measurements of blood flow in various conditions in one rabbit and because of its realiability which already has been established. We simultaneously measured the bone blood flow in 20 femoral condyles of 10 rabbits with the laser speckle and hydrogen washout methods and found a significant correlation between the blood flow levels with use of these two methods. For the clinical application of the laser speckle method, we also investigated the influence of cartilage thickness on the measurements and the depth in the bone to which blood flow could be measured with this method. A cartilage thickness of 0.2 mm did not influence the measurement of the bone blood flow, and the depth in the bone to which the laser speckle method could be used was approximately 2 mm.