<title>Real-time oriented image analysis in microcirculatory research</title>

Abstract

A digital video image analysis system is presented which consists of a personal computer equipped with a real-time video digitizer and a graphic tablet controlled by a modular set of programs aimed at performing a number of real-time oriented measuring tasks in microcirculatory research. Such tasks comprize the continuous recording of vessel diameters flow velocities or light intensity profiles from video recordings obtained during intravital microscopy of the terminal vascular bed either in research animals or in human beings. Two outstanding features of the presented systems are (A) the spatial correlation module for velocity measurement and (B) the automatic background movement correction. A: The spatial correlation velocity measurement module combined with an asymmetric illumination or gating process for image generation allows measurement of flow velocities from video microscopic images up to 20 mm/sec. This is about 10 to 20 times faster than the maximum. velocities which can be measured using conventional video based techniques. B: The automatic background movement correction is designed to track translational movements of background image structures in a reference window in real time (with respect to the video system). The translational vector of the image background is then used to adjust the position of the individual measuring lines or windows used in the different application modules to their original position relative to the tissue structures which are investigated. Such an automatic real-time tracking system isvery often a