Spatial frequency domain assessment of burns in a clinical setting: a comparison of a research-grade and a commercial imager at the UCI Regional Burn Center.

Abstract

Accurate assessment of burn wounds is critical for determining optimal patient care. The current standard of bedside visual and tactile examination is subjective and has poor accuracy, even when performed by skilled clinicians. Imaging technologies offer more accurate burn classification and have the potential to be used by personnel with less burn-centric training. This study evaluates the performance of two spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) systems in a burn intensive care unit (ICU) to classify burn wounds and identify key measurement parameters for future device development. Subjects (N=24) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Regional Burn Center were imaged under an IRB protocol using the OxImager RS (research device) and Clarifi RS (clinical device). We present side-by-side comparisons of device performance metrics, including optical property maps across a range of burn severities, to determine optimal SFDI parameters for clinical assessment. Results indicate that while the research-grade system provides a higher resolution of spectral and spatial data, the streamlined clinical system offers significant advantages in acquisition speed and resistance to motion artifacts and ambient light in the ICU environment.