Date: Jan 01, 2012 Source: ARMY SBIR Success Story (
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Currently, one in every four combat casualties is due to head injuries. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) resulting from these injuries is a major cause of cognitive deficits, as well as a series of physiological and psychological disorders that can result in impaired memory, judgment, and perception. Closed head injuries are a major concern because they are difficult to detect and early detection is necessary to improve the treatment and therapy of injured Soldiers.
Rapid assessment of injury severity, as well as non-invasive continuous monitoring of brain physiology after the occurrence is expected to have a positive impact on selection of treatment strategies and improved outcomes among TBI patients. The current brain physiology monitoring methods are either invasive or not suitable for continuous monitoring.
A noninvasive device suitable for long-term continuous monitoring of physiologic changes in the brain after injury would be highly beneficial to patient management and therapy outcomes. To address this need, a prototype TBI monitor utilizing time domain near-infrared spectroscopy (TDNIRS) was developed by Physical Sciences, Inc. in collaboration with the Massachusetts General hospital. TDNIRS is an optical technique that allows for noninvasive determination of tissue blood perfusion and oxygenation in vivo.
By directing near-infrared pulsed light into the scalp and collecting the diffusely scattered light, a map of the optical absorption properties of the brain can be retrieved from the changes in light pulse profile. Near-infrared measurements are particularly sensitive to changes in blood flow, volume, and tissue oxygenation which, using sophisticated software algorithms, are then used to process this data and display it in real-time using a graphical user interface. The TDNIRS instrument offers real-time feedback and can be used to monitor therapy results. The advantage of this technology over radiological approaches is continuous bedside monitoring at negligible costs, which is not possible with either CT or MR imaging.
Technology Transition:
Physical Sciences developed the TDNIRS prototype and tested it on TBI, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and stroke patients. Findings were correlated with CT/MR images, as well as with patient's heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, and intracranial pressure. A good correlation was found in most of the patients which demonstrated the feasibility of this technology for neurointensive care patient monitoring.
PSI has also received a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program award of $560K to further test this technology in TBI, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and stroke patients. If this study confirms suitability, Physical Sciences will seek additional funding to make it more portable and perform multisite clinical testing. This technology could be used in the neurointensive care units, for patient monitoring after injury, or a more portable version could be used in the field hospitals for patient triage.
