Label free in vivo laser speckle imaging of blood and lymph vessels

The peripheral lymphatic vascular system is a part of the immune body system comprising a complex network of lymph vessels and nodes that are flowing lymph toward the heart. Traditionally the imaging of lymphatic vessels is based on the conventional imaging modalities utilizing contrast fluorescence materials. Given the important role of the lymphatic system there is a critical need for the development of noninvasive imaging technologies for functional quantitative diagnosis of the lymph vessels and lymph flow without using foreign chemicals. We report a label free methodology for noninvasive in vivo imaging of blood and lymph vessels, using long-exposure laser speckle imaging approach. This approach entails great promise in the noninvasive studies of tissues blood and lymph vessels distribution in vivo. (C) 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers ( SPIE). [DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.5.050502]