Measuring Complexity of Biomedical Signals

Measuring complexity of biomedical signals

Use of laser speckle and entropy computation to segment images of diffuse objects with longitudinal motion

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Laser Doppler flowmetry signals: pointwise Hölder exponents of experimental signals from young healthy subjects and numerically simulated data

We analyze the complexity of laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) signals which give a peripheral view of the cardiovascular system. For this purpose, experimental and numerically simulated LDF signals are processed. The experimental signals are recorded in young healthy subjects. The numerically simulated LDF data are computed from a model containing six nonlinear coupled oscillators reflecting six almost periodic rhythmic activities present in experimental LDF signals. In the model, the oscillators are coupled with both linear and parametric couplings in order to represent cardiovascular system behaviors. To our knowledge this modeling has never been proposed yet. The complexity of all the experimental and simulated signals is studied by the computation of pointwise Hölder exponents. The latter identify the possible multifractal characteristics of data. The pointwise Hölder exponents are determined with a parametric generalized quadratic variation based estimation method first calibrated from white noise measures. The results of our signal processing analysis show that experimental LDF signals are weakly multifractal for young healthy subjects at rest. Furthermore, our findings together with another recent work of our group show that pointwise Hölder exponents of the simulated data do not describe the ones of the young healthy subjects but are closer to the ones of elderly healthy people. This paper provides useful information to go deeper into the modeling of LDF data, that could bring enlightenment for a better understanding of the peripheral cardiovascular system

Laser speckle imaging to monitor microvascular blood flow: a Review

Laser speckle is a complex interference phenomenon that can easily be understood, in concept, but is difficult to predict mathematically, because it is a stochastic process. The use of laser speckle to produce images, which can carry many types of information, is called laser speckle imaging (LSI). The biomedical applications of LSI started in 1981 and, since then, many scientists have improved the laser speckle theory and developed different imaging techniques. During this process, some inconsistencies have been propagated up to now. These inconsistencies should be clarified in order to avoid errors in future works. This review presents a review of the laser speckle theory used in biomedical applications. Moreover, we also make a review of the practical concepts that are useful in the construction of laser speckle imagers. This study is not only an exposition of the concepts that can be found in the literature but also a critical analysis of the investigations presented so far. Concepts like scatterers velocity distribution, effect of static scatterers, optimal speckle size, light penetration angle, and contrast computation algorithms are discussed in detail

Performance analysis of spatial laser speckle contrast implementations

This work presents an analysis of the performances for four different implementations used to compute laser speckle contrast on images. Laser speckle contrast is a widely used imaging technique for biomedical applications. These implementations were tested using synthetic laser speckle patters with different resolutions, speckle sizes, and contrasts. From the applied methods, three implementations are already known in the literature. A new alternative is proposed herein, which relies on two-dimensional convolutions, in order to improve the image processing time without compromising the contrast assessment. The proposed implementation achieves a processing time two orders of magnitude lower than the analytical evaluation. The goal of this technical manuscript is to help the developers and researchers in computing laser speckle contrast images

Effect of static scatterers in laser speckle contrast imaging: an experimental study on correlation and contrast

Laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) is a non-invasive microvascular blood flow assessment technique with good temporal and spatial resolution. Most LSCI systems, including commercial devices, can perform only qualitative blood flow evaluation, which is a major limitation of this technique. There are several factors that prevent the utilization of LSCI as a quantitative technique. Among these factors, we can highlight the effect of static scatterers. The goal of this work was to study the influence of differences in static and dynamic scatterer concentration on laser speckle correlation and contrast. In order to achieve this, a laser speckle prototype was developed and tested using an optical phantom with various concentrations of static and dynamic scatterers. It was found that the laser speckle correlation could be used to estimate the relative concentration of static/dynamic scatterers within a sample. Moreover, the speckle correlation proved to be independent of the dynamic scatterer velocity, which is a fundamental characteristic to be used in contrast correction

Laser speckle contrast analysis for pulse waveform extraction

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