Clinical applications of near-infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy and tomography for tissue blood flow monitoring and imaging

OBJECTIVE: Blood flow is one such available observable promoting a wealth of physiological insight both individually and in combination with other metrics. APPROACH: Near-infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) and, to a lesser extent, diffuse correlation tomography (DCT), have increasingly received interest over the past decade as noninvasive methods for tissue blood flow measurements and imaging. DCS/DCT offers several attractive features for tissue blood flow measurements/imaging such as noninvasiveness, portability, high temporal resolution, and relatively large penetration depth (up to several centimeters). MAIN RESULTS: This review first introduces the basic principle and instrumentation of DCS/DCT, followed by presenting clinical application examples of DCS/DCT for the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of diseases in a variety of organs/tissues including brain, skeletal muscle, and tumor. SIGNIFICANCE: Clinical study results demonstrate technical versatility of DCS/DCT in providing important information for disease diagnosis and intervention monitoring.