Reliability of automated optical determination of capillary refill time

The present study is devoted to assessment of automated optical capillary refill time determination by custom developed optoelectronic device prototype. Study comprised fifteen healthy volunteers; To induce capillary refill time changes the hand position challenge was utilized. During rest conditions slight inter-subject variation was observed: T90 (0.75±0.27 s), TSTB (2.20±0.58 s) and temperature at the measurement site (32.21±1.87 Co), however during hand position challenge results were more consistent. Rising hand substantially increased, while lowering slightly decreased capillary refill time. We conclude that automated determination of refill time have high clinical potential, however more extensive studies are required to determine reliable methodology and provide measurement guidelines.