Optical, Spectroscopic, and Doppler Evaluation of “Normal” and “Abnormal” Reflexology Areas in Lumbar Vertebral Pathology: A Case Study
Figure 4
Multimodal images of reflexology areas (RAs) of lumbar vertebrae and the corresponding analytical results. (α) and (β) represent “normal” RA and “abnormal” RA, respectively, (cut section of Figure 3). (α1) and (β1) represent the OCT images of “normal” and “abnormal” RAs, respectively, with (a) stratum corneum; (b) viable epidermis; (c) microvessels; (d) macrovessels. (α2) and (β2) depict box-and-whisker plots for the diameters of macrovessels in “normal” and “abnormal” RAs, respectively. (α3) and (β3) represent spectra for blood flow perfusion in “normal” and “abnormal” RAs, respectively. (α4) and (β4) represent the time variation of transcutaneous oxygen tension under arm pressure release in “normal” and “abnormal” RAs, respectively. (γ) depicts the mean Raman spectra for “normal” (solid line) and “abnormal” (dotted lines) in the range of 900–1800 cm−1. (δ) shows PCA clustering of “abnormal” (hollow squares) and “normal” (solid diamonds) molecular signatures of Raman spectra in the range of 900–1800 cm−1.
