Measurement of capillary refill time with a handheld prototype device: a comparative validation study in healthy volunteers.

Validity and reproducibility of clinical capillary refill time (CRT) measurement depend on many factors in daily routine practice. We conducted a prospective validation study of an automatized handheld prototype device providing standardized CRT assessment (DiCART™) in 20 healthy volunteers. Three different methods of CRT measurement were compared before and during dynamic circulatory changes induced by venous and arterial occlusion tests at both upper and lower limb levels: CRT corresponding to basic clinical assessment and considered as the reference method; CRT corresponding to off-line videos reviewed by investigators recorded by DiCART™; and CRT corresponding to on-line videos analysed by a built-in proprietary mathematical algorithm included in DiCART™.