Robust analysis of microcirculatory flowmotion during post-occlusive reactive hyperemia

Background

Flowmotion analysis of the microcirculatory blood flow is a method to extract information about the vessel regulatory function. It has previously shown promise when applied to measurements during a post-occlusive reactive hyperemia. However, the reperfusion peak and the following monotonic decline introduces false low frequencies that should not be interpreted as rhythmic vasomotion effect.

Aim

To develop and validate a robust method for flowmotion analysis of post-occlusive reactive hyperemia signals.

Method

The occlusion-induced reperfusion response contains a typical rapid increase followed by a monotonic decline to baseline. A mathematical model is proposed to detrend this transient part of the signal to enable further flowmotion analysis. The model is validated in 96 measurements on healthy volunteers.

Results

Applying the proposed model corrects the flowmotion signal without adding any substantial new false flowmotion components.

Conclusion

Future studies should use the proposed method or equivalent when analyzing flowmotion during post-occlusive reactive hyperemia to ensure valid results.