Individual variability analysis of fluorescence parameters measured in skin with different levels of nutritive blood flow

• Assessed individual variability of parameters measured by fluorescence spectroscopy.
• We analyzed the factors that lead to a significant scatter of results.
• The effects of various physiological and technical factors were studied.
• Monte Carlo simulation evaluates the impact of device features on the results.
• The data should be considered when interpreting the diagnostic parameters, etc.

Fluorescence spectroscopy has recently become more common in clinical medicine. However, there are still many unresolved issues related to the methodology and implementation of instruments with this technology.In this study, we aimed to assess individual variability of fluorescence parameters of endogenous markers (NADH, FAD, etc.) measured by fluorescent spectroscopy (FS) in situ and to analyse the factors that lead to a significant scatter of results. Most studied fluorophores have an acceptable scatter of values (mostly up to 30%) for diagnostic purposes. Here we provide evidence that the level of blood volume in tissue impacts FS data with a significant inverse correlation. The distribution function of the fluorescence intensity and the fluorescent contrast coefficient values are a function of the normal distribution for most of the studied fluorophores and the redox ratio. The effects of various physiological (different content of skin melanin) and technical (characteristics of optical filters) factors on the measurement results were additionally studied.The data on the variability of the measurement results in FS should be considered when interpreting the diagnostic parameters, as well as when developing new algorithms for data processing and FS devices.