Reconstruction of thermographic signals to map perforator vessels in humans

Thermal representations of underlying perforator vessels on the surface of a human forearm have previously been mapped via recovery-enhanced infrared imaging, which is performed as skin blood flow recovers to baseline levels following cooling of the forearm. We noted that the same vessels could also be observed during reactive hyperaemia tests after the complete 5-min occlusion of the forearm by an inflatable cuff. However, not all the subjects showed vessels with acceptable contrast. Therefore, we applied a thermographic signal reconstruction algorithm to reactive hyperaemia testing, which substantially enhanced signal-to-noise ratios between perforator vessels and their surroundings, thereby enabling their mapping with higher accuracy and a shorter occlusion period.