An Updated Review of Methods and Advancements in Microvascular Blood Flow Imaging

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in microvascular blood flow imaging techniques, highlighting the evolution from invasive methods to high-resolution non-invasive approaches and their significance in health and disease research.

Contribution

It provides an updated overview of recent technological developments and applications in microcirculation imaging, building on previous comprehensive reviews.

Findings

Growth in research publications on microcirculation imaging.

Advances from invasive to non-invasive high-resolution techniques.

Applications in understanding disease progression and physiological health.

Abstract

There has been a consistent growth in research involving imaging of microvasculature over the past few decades. By 2008, publications mentioning the microcirculation had grown more than 2000 per annum. Many techniques have been demonstrated for measurement of the microcirculation ranging from the earliest invasive techniques to the present high speed, high resolution non-invasive imaging techniques. Understanding the microvasculature is vital in tackling fundamental research questions as well as to understand effects of disease progression on the physiological wellbeing of an individual. We have previously provided a wide ranging review [38] covering most of the available techniques and their applications. In this review, we discuss the recent advances made and applications in the field of microcirculation imaging.