Gs. Lausten et al., LASER-DOPPLER FLOWMETRY FOR ESTIMATION OF BONE BLOOD-FLOW - STUDIES OF REPRODUCIBILITY AND CORRELATION WITH MICROSPHERE TECHNIQUE, Journal of orthopaedic research, 11(4), 1993, pp. 573-580
The blood flow in the femoral condyles of six pigs was measured by the
microsphere technique and by laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) before and
after clamping of the external iliac artery. A significant decrease i
n the bone blood flow was found with both microsphere and LDF measurem
ents, and a high correlation was found between the two methods. After
release of the arterial clamp, the LDF values rapidly returned to appr
oximately the same values as before clamping. In a second part of the
study, the LDF output signal was studied in the intertrochanteric area
of eight patients. The reproducibility of two LDF measurements at the
same location was within 15%. The temporal variability of the LDF sig
nal during 10 min of recording showed only slight variations. It is co
ncluded that LDF is relative in nature and that the mean LDF output si
gnal is suitable for monitoring dynamic responses of the bone blood fl
ow to various stimuli. Several consecutive measurements have to be per
formed if the blood flow at different locations of a specific bone are
to be compared with each other.