Measurement of microvascular blood flow in cancellous bone using laser Doppler flowmetry and ¹³³Xe-clearance

Abstract

Blood flow in cancellous bone with varying vascular density was investigated simultaneously with Laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF) and ¹³³Xe-clearance. The cancellous bone subapical to 2 contralateral incisors in the mandibles of 17 young pigs was used as an experimental model. Light from a 2 mW He-Ne-laser was guided through an optical fibre to a flowmeter probe. Stainless steel probe-holders firmly inserted in the pulpal canals of the two incisors served as the probe entrance to cancellous bone for blood flow recording.

Due to the Doppler effect, the light scattered by circulating blood cells undergoes a frequency shift. The back-scattered light picked up by optical fibres in the probe, was guided to a photosensitive device, where it was demodulated. After signal processing, a signal referred to as the Blood Flow Value (BFV) was recorded on a pen recorder.

Rhythmical variations (vasomotion) in BFV with frequencies from 2–11 cycles/min were observed in 6% of recordings made initially after probe-holder implantation, and in 34% of the recordings made 5 weeks later. On this occasion, a marked increase in BFV was recorded. Histological examination showed increased vascularity in the bone tissue.

The reproducibility error of LDF was 7.4% and temporal changes in BFV, apart from vasomotion, were 8.3%, provided no injections or manipulations of the probe were made. Spatial variations in BFV were found to be related to the vascular density. 2 successive recordings by LDF from the same bone area were highly correlated (r = 0.98). The corresponding figure for 2 logarithmic decay rates of locally injected ¹³³Xe was 0.76. No correlation between BFV and ¹³³Xe-clearance could be demonstrated.