Spectroscopic assessment of cutaneous hemodynamics in the presence of high epidermal melanin concentration

Autor: Henry H. Mantsch, Anna Matas, Bernhard J. Schattka, Michael G. Sowa
Rok vydání: 2002
Předmět:
Zdroj: Clinica Chimica Acta. 317:203-212
ISSN: 0009-8981
DOI: 10.1016/s0009-8981(01)00796-3
Popis: Background : For individuals with lightly pigmented skin, early stage pressure ulcers appear as areas of redness, which have compromised microcirculation and do not blanch in response to pressure. The lack of a visible blanch (hemodynamic response) to pressure is a convenient diagnostic test for stage I sores. However, the blanch response is not visually apparent in people with highly pigmented skin color due to the overwhelming contribution of melanin to the reflectance of skin. Methods : A simple least squares projection operator method is described, which can separate the reflectance contributions from melanin and hemoglobin. The methodology was tested in a study population of 20 subjects with healthy skin. The study population was evenly divided into a lightly pigmented skin group (visible blanch response) and a highly pigmented skin group (no visible blanch response). Results : The hemodynamic response to pressure being applied to the skin could clearly be distinguished spectroscopically in both groups at a high level of statistical significance. Conclusion : The specific aim of this work was directed towards developing a spectroscopic basis for distinguishing the healthy blanch response in a manner that was independent of skin pigmentation. However, the technique has a general application when optical hemodynamic measurements are being made over a diverse patient population or under conditions of varying pigmentation such as the seasonal changes in skin color.
Databáze: OpenAIRE