Toronto Metropolitan University
Browse

Performing Red Blood Cell Count Using Video Capillaroscopy and Analyzing the Data Using MATLAB Software

Download (925.7 kB)
thesis
posted on 2024-03-18, 16:06 authored by Tara Fesharakinia

Complete blood cell count (CBC) is one of the most common blood tests. The current CBC is performed invasively through puncture of the skin drawing blood sample, which can put cancer patients and immunocompromised patients at risk of infection and hospitalization. Also, people with Hemophilia might suffer from bleeding after capillary puncture for up to 4 hours. By performing capillaroscopy, (a non-invasive technique to visualize capillaries) and by processing and analyzing the data via software such as MATLAB, we hypothesized that we would be able to provide Red Blood Cell (RBC) counting without skin puncture thus acquiring valuable information about one's health non-invasively. The size of a blood capillary is comparable with a RBC size, which means that we can observe RBC in the capillaries cell by cell. Focusing on nailfold capillaries, we can monitor single capillaries across a field of view (FOV). Separating and quantifying the light absorption gaps in the nail capillaries in vivo is an effective tool for counting the number of red blood cells in the body and diagnosing disorders caused by a deficiency or increase of RBCs. In this project, we have processed video footage of nail fold capillaries via MATLAB and were able to detect and count red blood cells in-vivo.

History

Language

eng

Degree

  • Master of Engineering

Program

  • Biomedical Engineering

Granting Institution

Ryerson University

LAC Thesis Type

  • MRP

Thesis Advisor

Alexandre Douplik

Year

2022

Usage metrics

    Biomedical Engineering (Theses)

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC