We developed and evaluated a low-cost, miniaturized, and user-friendly speckle contrast diffuse correlation tomography (scDCT) device for noncontact, fast, high-density, and depth-sensitive imaging of CBF distribution in the brain. The new low-cost portable scDCT device was evaluated against an established large scDCT system using head-simulating phantoms with known optical properties and the mouse with transient ligations of common carotid arteries. Results taken from the two scDCT systems were highly consistent. The low-cost miniaturized scDCT has the potential to be commercialized as an affordable, portable, and ergonomic brain monitoring tool for neuroscience research in numerous academic and industrial laboratories.
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