The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the sensitivity of a surface thermal probe for the measurement of tissue persfuion. Measurements using isolated and in vivo rat livers show that the surface thermal prove is sensitive to the perfusion. Thermographic images of the liver surface have been taken of both the isolated rat liver as well as the in vivo rat liver. The thermographic images can be used to evaluate the spatial distribution of perfusion at the tissue surface. Perfusion is found to be nonuniform in the isolated rat liver and uniform in the in vivo rat liver.
P. A. Patel, J. W. Valvano, and S. A. Prahl. Perfusion measurement by a surface thermal probe. In IEEE/Ninth Annual Conference of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, pages 28-29, Boston, MA, 1987. IEEE.