Measurement of Peripheral Blood Flow Volume with New Heat Transfer Method

Abstract

Blood flow volume, an important parameter of microcirculation, has been measured in many studies. In this study, an easy-to-use heat transfer method is developed to measure the blood flow volume of peripheral tissues in humans. This method is based on a one-dimensional biological heat transfer and three-dimensional conductor heat transfer model, which requires temperature measurements at the skin and two ends of the conductor. A mathematical simulation is established to guide the actual signal processing method. The results demonstrate that the heat transfer method is feasible for measuring the blood flow volume in peripheral tissues such as the fingertip. Moreover, a sensor system is developed to carry out experiments using human fingers. The results correlate well with data from a laser Doppler device, with a correlation coefficient of 0.89. The proposed heat transfer method can be used to accurately measure blood flow volume.