A new photoelectric device for contact-free recording of diameters of short blood vessel segments in vitro
Tutschke, U.
Biomedizinische Technik. Biomedical Engineering 33(7-8): 166-172
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0013-5585 PMID: 3214667 Document Number: 315678
A new photoelectric device is described for in vitro semicontinous contact-free measurement of blood vessel diameters. The principle of this device is based on generating a light beam by a combination of a vertical slit and a motor driven disk with a spiral slit positioned in the beam of a light source. The light beam movesl parallel to the vertical slit with constant velocity if the motor speed is constant and illuminates a photodiode. The blood vessel under investigation is placed between rotating disk and photodiode. The diameter is evaluated from the time the light beam requires for passing the vessel. The vessel can highly translucent without influencing the output signal which increases linearly with increasing outer diameter of the vessel. The resolving power of the device is better than 2 .mu.m in a diameter range from 1.3 mm up to 8 mm. The application of the method is demonstrated by an example obtained from measurements on v. saphena magna.