Development of hand blood circulation measurement system for Raynaud syndrome using infrared imaging.

Raynaud syndrome refers to a medical condition where arterial smooth muscle contraction induces blood flow reduction. Thermal images and questionnaires have been used to assess the efficacy of treatment. In this research, a potential way to measure whole-hand blood circulation in real-time using infrared image is introduced. Normalized average pixel intensity of the regions of interest in hand was measured during or after blood circulation changes brought by temperature alteration and pressure applied to the hand or forearm. The intensity of regions has shown the tendency of the expected amount of blood in the hand in each blood circulation changes. Possible uses of this system are measuring severity of Raynaud syndrome and the efficacy of treatments.