Advancing intraoperative cerebral blood flow monitoring:  integrating imaging photoplethysmography and laser speckle contrast imaging in neurosurgery

Alexei A. Kamshilin; Anton N. Konovalov; Fyodor V. Grebenev; Igor O. Kozlov; Dmitry D. Stavtsev; Gennadii A. Piavchenko; Ervin Nippolainen; Valeriy V. Zaytsev; Alexey Y. Sokolov; Dmitry V. Telyshev; Sergei L. Kuznetsov; Roman V. Romashko; Igor V. Meglinski

doi:10.1007/s12200-025-00163-5

Advancing intraoperative cerebral blood flow monitoring: integrating imaging photoplethysmography and laser speckle contrast imaging in neurosurgery

Alexei A. Kamshilin^*
, Anton N. Konovalov
, Fyodor V. Grebenev
, Igor O. Kozlov
, Dmitry D. Stavtsev
, Gennadii A. Piavchenko
, Ervin Nippolainen
, Valeriy V. Zaytsev
, Alexey Y. Sokolov
, Dmitry V. Telyshev
, Sergei L. Kuznetsov
, Roman V. Romashko
, Igor V. Meglinski

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Intraoperative assessment of cerebral hemodynamics is crucial for the success of neurosurgical interventions. This study evaluates the potential of laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and imaging photoplethysmography (IPPG) for contactless perfusion monitoring during neurosurgery. Despite similarities in their hardware requirements, these techniques rely on fundamentally different principles: light scattering for LSCI and light absorption for IPPG. Comparative experiments were conducted using animals (rats) when assessing the reaction of cerebral hemodynamics to adenosine triphosphate infusion. The results show different spatial and temporal characteristics of the techniques: LSCI predominantly visualizes blood flow in large venous vessels, especially in the sagittal and transverse sinuses, showing a pronounced modulation associated with the heart that cannot be explained by venous blood flow alone. In contrast, IPPG quantifies the dynamics of perfusion changes in the parenchyma, showing minimal signal in large venous vessels. We propose that LSCI signal modulation is significantly influenced by the movement of vessel walls in response to mechanical pressure waves propagating through the parenchyma from nearby arteries. A novel algorithm for LSCI data processing was developed based on this interpretation, producing perfusion indices that align well with IPPG measurements. This study demonstrates that the complementary nature of these techniques (LSCI is sensitive to blood cells displacements, while IPPG detects a change in their density) makes their combined application particularly valuable for comprehensive assessment of cerebral hemodynamics during neurosurgery. Graphical Abstract:

Original language	English
Article number	20
Number of pages	14
Journal	Frontiers of Optoelectronics
Volume	18
Issue number	1
Early online date	26 Sept 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-025-00163-5
Publication status	Published - 26 Sept 2025

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2025. The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you willneed to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 22-65-00096) in terms of experiment planning and carrying out, manufacturing and calibration of the LSCI system; and by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Agreement No. 125020301282-0) in terms of manufacturing and calibration of the IPPG system.

Keywords

Cerebral perfusion monitoring
Neurosurgery
Blood flow visualization
Laser speckle contrast imaging
Imaging photoplethysmography

Access to Document

10.1007/s12200-025-00163-5Licence: CC BY 4.0

Advancing intraoperative cerebral blood flow monitoring: integrating imaging photoplethysmography and laser speckle contrast imaging in neurosurgery
Copyright © 2025. The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you willneed to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Final published version, 2.32 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Kamshilin, A. A., Konovalov, A. N., Grebenev, F. V., Kozlov, I. O., Stavtsev, D. D., Piavchenko, G. A., Nippolainen, E., Zaytsev, V. V., Sokolov, A. Y., Telyshev, D. V., Kuznetsov, S. L., Romashko, R. V., & Meglinski, I. V. (2025). Advancing intraoperative cerebral blood flow monitoring: integrating imaging photoplethysmography and laser speckle contrast imaging in neurosurgery. Frontiers of Optoelectronics, 18(1), Article 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-025-00163-5

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abstract = "Intraoperative assessment of cerebral hemodynamics is crucial for the success of neurosurgical interventions. This study evaluates the potential of laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and imaging photoplethysmography (IPPG) for contactless perfusion monitoring during neurosurgery. Despite similarities in their hardware requirements, these techniques rely on fundamentally different principles: light scattering for LSCI and light absorption for IPPG. Comparative experiments were conducted using animals (rats) when assessing the reaction of cerebral hemodynamics to adenosine triphosphate infusion. The results show different spatial and temporal characteristics of the techniques: LSCI predominantly visualizes blood flow in large venous vessels, especially in the sagittal and transverse sinuses, showing a pronounced modulation associated with the heart that cannot be explained by venous blood flow alone. In contrast, IPPG quantifies the dynamics of perfusion changes in the parenchyma, showing minimal signal in large venous vessels. We propose that LSCI signal modulation is significantly influenced by the movement of vessel walls in response to mechanical pressure waves propagating through the parenchyma from nearby arteries. A novel algorithm for LSCI data processing was developed based on this interpretation, producing perfusion indices that align well with IPPG measurements. This study demonstrates that the complementary nature of these techniques (LSCI is sensitive to blood cells displacements, while IPPG detects a change in their density) makes their combined application particularly valuable for comprehensive assessment of cerebral hemodynamics during neurosurgery. Graphical Abstract:",

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Kamshilin, AA, Konovalov, AN, Grebenev, FV, Kozlov, IO, Stavtsev, DD, Piavchenko, GA, Nippolainen, E, Zaytsev, VV, Sokolov, AY, Telyshev, DV, Kuznetsov, SL, Romashko, RV & Meglinski, IV 2025, 'Advancing intraoperative cerebral blood flow monitoring: integrating imaging photoplethysmography and laser speckle contrast imaging in neurosurgery', Frontiers of Optoelectronics, vol. 18, no. 1, 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-025-00163-5

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T2 - integrating imaging photoplethysmography and laser speckle contrast imaging in neurosurgery

AU - Kamshilin, Alexei A.

AU - Konovalov, Anton N.

AU - Grebenev, Fyodor V.

AU - Kozlov, Igor O.

AU - Stavtsev, Dmitry D.

AU - Piavchenko, Gennadii A.

AU - Nippolainen, Ervin

AU - Zaytsev, Valeriy V.

AU - Sokolov, Alexey Y.

AU - Telyshev, Dmitry V.

AU - Kuznetsov, Sergei L.

AU - Romashko, Roman V.

AU - Meglinski, Igor V.

N1 - Copyright © 2025. The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you willneed to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

PY - 2025/9/26

Y1 - 2025/9/26

N2 - Intraoperative assessment of cerebral hemodynamics is crucial for the success of neurosurgical interventions. This study evaluates the potential of laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and imaging photoplethysmography (IPPG) for contactless perfusion monitoring during neurosurgery. Despite similarities in their hardware requirements, these techniques rely on fundamentally different principles: light scattering for LSCI and light absorption for IPPG. Comparative experiments were conducted using animals (rats) when assessing the reaction of cerebral hemodynamics to adenosine triphosphate infusion. The results show different spatial and temporal characteristics of the techniques: LSCI predominantly visualizes blood flow in large venous vessels, especially in the sagittal and transverse sinuses, showing a pronounced modulation associated with the heart that cannot be explained by venous blood flow alone. In contrast, IPPG quantifies the dynamics of perfusion changes in the parenchyma, showing minimal signal in large venous vessels. We propose that LSCI signal modulation is significantly influenced by the movement of vessel walls in response to mechanical pressure waves propagating through the parenchyma from nearby arteries. A novel algorithm for LSCI data processing was developed based on this interpretation, producing perfusion indices that align well with IPPG measurements. This study demonstrates that the complementary nature of these techniques (LSCI is sensitive to blood cells displacements, while IPPG detects a change in their density) makes their combined application particularly valuable for comprehensive assessment of cerebral hemodynamics during neurosurgery. Graphical Abstract:

AB - Intraoperative assessment of cerebral hemodynamics is crucial for the success of neurosurgical interventions. This study evaluates the potential of laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and imaging photoplethysmography (IPPG) for contactless perfusion monitoring during neurosurgery. Despite similarities in their hardware requirements, these techniques rely on fundamentally different principles: light scattering for LSCI and light absorption for IPPG. Comparative experiments were conducted using animals (rats) when assessing the reaction of cerebral hemodynamics to adenosine triphosphate infusion. The results show different spatial and temporal characteristics of the techniques: LSCI predominantly visualizes blood flow in large venous vessels, especially in the sagittal and transverse sinuses, showing a pronounced modulation associated with the heart that cannot be explained by venous blood flow alone. In contrast, IPPG quantifies the dynamics of perfusion changes in the parenchyma, showing minimal signal in large venous vessels. We propose that LSCI signal modulation is significantly influenced by the movement of vessel walls in response to mechanical pressure waves propagating through the parenchyma from nearby arteries. A novel algorithm for LSCI data processing was developed based on this interpretation, producing perfusion indices that align well with IPPG measurements. This study demonstrates that the complementary nature of these techniques (LSCI is sensitive to blood cells displacements, while IPPG detects a change in their density) makes their combined application particularly valuable for comprehensive assessment of cerebral hemodynamics during neurosurgery. Graphical Abstract:

KW - Cerebral perfusion monitoring

KW - Neurosurgery

KW - Blood flow visualization

KW - Laser speckle contrast imaging

KW - Imaging photoplethysmography

UR - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12200-025-00163-5

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105017776738

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JO - Frontiers of Optoelectronics

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