Twente: Technique for assessing severity of burns

Licensing opportunity

Scientists at the University of Twente have developed a new technique for assessing the perfusion, or severity, of a burn injury. Using these perfusion images captured by a laser and an ultra fast camera, doctors will be able to determine whether a burn needs surgery.

The device, developed under supervision of Wiendelt Steenbergen of the Biophysical Engineering group, has been successfully tested at the Martini Ziekenhuis Hospital in Groningen.

The tests show that the system can measure differences in perfusion in burns, with both patients and medical staff responding positively to the high speed of the system and the quality of the images.

A burn that shows good perfusion has a better chance of healing by itself, avoiding the need for surgery. But in many cases it is not possible to make an accurate assessment with a visual inspection. This can lead to unnecessary surgery or, on the other hand, to unwanted delays when surgery is the best option.

Compared to current methods for measuring perfusion, the new technique is much faster. Existing scanning techniques take minutes to scan a few square centimetres of skin, during which time the patient is not allowed to move. The new technique is capable of imaging an entire surface of ten by ten centimetres in a fraction of a second.

To achieve this, the entire surface is lit by a wide laser beam. A high speed camera, capable of taking 27,000 shots per second, takes images of the tissue. Whenever laser light is scattered by moving red blood cells this is visible in the intensity of the pixels, enabling a perfusion image to be made.

Apart from its use in determining perfusion in burn injuries, Steenbergen suggests other applications, for example in evaluating the uptake of medication through the skin, or in testing allergic reactions. The device could be used to evaluate micro-circulation problems in diabetics also.

The current market leader in laser-doppler equipment for perfusion imaging in burns, Perimed AB of Sweden, has shown interest in the new technique, and has signed a contract with Dutch Technology Foundation STW, which financed the research, to acquire the patent

The research was carried out at the Biophysical Engineering Group of the University of Twente, which is part of the BMTI Institute for Biomedical Technology.