Fig. 3

a Perfusion over ischemic bowel gradient as a function of distance from stapled bowel edge. Intestinal perfusion in Relative Perfusion Units (RPU) on Y-axis vs Radial distance from stapled bowel edge (cm) on X-axis are shown. The continuous bowel gradient is divided into ischemic, watershed and perfused bowel segments with increasing distance from stapled bowel edge (from left to right). In contrast to potentially subjective end user perception of color heatmap of perfusion, LSCI quantification detects a continuous gradient of corresponding numerical relative intestinal perfusion and clearly distinguishes between perfused, watershed, and ischemic segments using RPU quantification (p = 9 × 10–10). Perfusion values are found to decrease with deviating distance from stapled edge. There is a significant decrease in perfusion values noted at 1 cm from the margin of mesenteric devascularization. b Perfusion differences in antimesenteric & mesenteric bowel regions along ischemic bowel gradient. X-axis shows distance from the stapled bowel edge measured in cm; Y-axis shows LSCI-measured RPU of antimesenteric (black) and mesenteric (red) bowel regions. In perfused and watershed segments, the mean RPU of antimesenteric and mesenteric bowel was significantly different (p < 0.0001). Overall, for every distance along the perfused/watershed bowel segments, the bowel perfusion on the mesenteric border was significantly higher than the antimesenteric border