Intracerebral laser Doppler blood flow measurements compared to blood flow in porcine internal carotid artery

The aim was to validate intracerebral laser Doppler measurements: a technique with potential applications for studying cerebral microcirculation. A technique for measurements of blood flow from the internal carotid artery was developed and compared to the laser Doppler method in a pig model. Cerebral blood flow was varied using haemorrhage, high cerebrospinal fluid pressure and blood volume expansion. The coefficient of correlation between flow in the carotid artery and laser Doppler flow signals from probes in the cerebral cortex was 0.29 ( P