Application of whole blood image speckle analysis

When coherent light is incident upon an optically thick biological fluid having scattering centers (SC) in suspension, like whole blood, the backscattered light can be recorded, resulting an image speckle. A program was written to extract the time series from each pixel of the CDD conversion matrix. The autocorrelation time of the series was calculated and the autocorrelation time was determined on blood samples from different human subjects. The autocorrelation time was analyzed and compared with the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) measured during a standard laboratory test using the modified Westergren method. A different procedure to record the time series, using a detector and a data acquisition system was used as well and the autocorrelation time was calculated for the time series recorded using this procedure. The results of the work performed so far indicate that the two properties appear to be slightly correlated. A fast procedure for assessing the ESR is suggested.