We called together six collaborative centres involved in clinical microcirculation research in paediatric and adult intensive care units in the Netherlands to come to a consensus about quantification of microcirculatory abnormalities in direct observations obtained by means of OPS imaging. The six centres are involved in OPS studies in various human organ tissues, such as the sublingual region, gut villi, rectal mucosa, skin, conjunctiva, gingival and brain tissue. This was important because we wished to reach a consensus regarding a method that is applicable to the various microcirculatory beds. The aim of the process was to implement a systematic approach to the analysis of OPS derived microcirculatory flow imaging that would allow identification and quantification of microcirculatory abnormalities during critical illness. Preferably, the designed method should be fit to analyse different microvascular structures that have variable vascular anatomy so as to avoid multiple scoring systems for the evaluation of flow imaging in specific organ oriented research. The scoring system should have clear definitions that are easy to teach and have acceptable interrater and intrarater variability. Storage of flow images should be possible at all times and performed in a structured way so that results can be discussed and (re)evaluated. Finally, its application should avoid time-consuming processing and its concept must be suitable for software analysis.
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