Figure 1.
Glycocheck algorithm on endothelial PBR determination and microvascular perfusion properties.
A) Red blood cells (RBC) are detected through reflection of light emitting diodes by hemoglobin. Images captured by the sidestream darkfield camera are sent to the computer for quality checks and assessment. The black contrast is the perfused lumen of the vessels. B) In each recording, the software automatically places the vascular segments (green), every 10 µm along the vascular segments (black contrast). C) After the acquisition, for the analysis, the software undergoes several quality check in the first frame of each recording (see text), to select vascular segments with sufficient quality for further analysis. Invalid vascular segments (yellow) are distinguished from the valid vascular segments (green). During the whole recording session of 40 frames, the percentage of time in which a particular valid vascular segment has RBCs present is used to calculate RBC filling percentage. D) Depiction of the concept of glycocalyx thickness by lateral RBC movement is shown here. E) For each vascular segment, the intensity profile is calculated to derive median RBC column width. F) Then, the distribution of RBC column width is used to calculate the perfused diameter, median RBC column width, and subsequently the perfused boundary region (PBR).
Table 1.
General Clinical Characteristics.
Table 2.
Sidestream darkfield imaging derived variables characteristics.
Figure 2.
Scatterplot between PBR and outcomes of microvascular perfusion.
The perfused boundary region (PBR), a measurement for glycocalyx accessibility to red blood cells (RBC), is associated significantly with spatio-temporal aspects of microvascular perfusion variables: A) RBC filling percentage (percentage of time in which a particular vascular segment is perfused) B) Valid microvascular density. In particular, lower PBR (less accessible glycocalyx, thus a better and thicker glycocalyx) is associated with higher RBC filling percentage (temporal perfusion).
Table 3.
Linear regression analysis show association between perfused boundary region and microvascular perfusion parameters.
Figure 3.
Schematic illustration on relation between glycocalyx accessibility and microvascular perfusion regulation.
A) Healthy state: Intact glycocalyx prevents red blood cells (RBC, red dots) from penetrating into its domain, reflected by a low perfused boundary region (PBR), and nicely aligned elongated RBC. The vessels are well perfused (higher tube hematocrit of microvessel and elongated shape of erythrocyte) resulting in a higher percentage of vessel segments with RBC present at any particular time point (high RBC filling percentage). B) Risk State: Altered composition of glycocalyx (lined dots) allows RBCs to penetrate deeper into the glycocalyx, closer to the anatomical border of lumen (endothelium), reflected by the high PBR. Due to the widening of RBC distribution width and volume, there is more space in between each RBC, as shown by decreased RBC filling percentage (less positive contrast per vascular segment per time point). Also, prolonged state of glycocalyx degradation leads to edematous and non-functioning vessels, leading to shorter vessel density per area of tissue (reduced valid microvascular density in risk PBR), depicted by the loss of bottom vessel.