The human body is comprised of a variety of networks that can be monitored and used as body positioning systems. Furthermore, structural changes observed in these networks have clinical significance as they can aid in disease diagnosis and determining the overall health of an individual. One such network is the superficial vascular structure. As the primary network supplying blood to the body, observing the vein structure gives insight into the cardiovascular health and hydration levels of an individual. Additionally, because of the uniqueness of the network, there is growing interest in using veins as a biometric for identification and mapping. However, because vasculature is difficult to image and existing imaging technology is expensive, the potential for superficial vascular structure to map the body and provide insight into overall health has not been well studied. Furthermore, given the 3D nature of the body, registering and matching corresponding vascular regions proves to be quite challenging. In order to address these needs, we have designed a near-infrared (NIR) imaging system to image the superficial vascular structure. It is compact, easily integrated into any computer system, and cost-effective, thereby having the potential to be used in clinical settings. By carefully designing the image acquisition system and developing registration and matching algorithms, we can robustly image and extract the vascular structure. By extracting the vascular structure from certain limbs, we show the potential for using vasculature as a body map. Additionally, we demonstrate the uniqueness of the vascular structure and its potential to be used as a biometric identifier.
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