• 08
  • February
    2012

The U.S. National Institute of Health has created a new type of imaging detection device that rapidly finds brain injury, and, it amazingly fits in the palm of the hand. This handheld innovation detects conditions like haematoma, which occurs when blood vessels in the brain leak blood into surrounding tissue and cause very dangerous swelling of the brain.

The Optical Society published the team's results in an open-access journal. The team concluded that the handheld device would be a faster and less expensive way to predetermine whether or not haematoma is occurring in traumatic brain injuries. Presently medical personnel use CT scans and MRI testing to look for signs of TBI including swelling, bleeding in the brain and leakage into the surrounding tissue.

The Biomedical Optics Express reported the importance and impact this handheld device would have on patients and medical staff, particularly during the initial emergency transport of a TBI accident victim.

The use of the handheld device will use near-infrared imaging to detect the sense of urgency in each individual patient.

Researchers say the device uses instrumental motion technology as the main detection signal. The device utilizes one main source in order to have a very simple technology that's dependable and has a very quick result.

The single-source model uses a dual detector that actually finds changes in the volume of blood and uses that information to decide whether bleeding is occurring in the brain or spinal cord.

The new technology could potentially be the next big breakthrough to detecting TBIs and mitigating the effects of brain injuries.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/271290/20111222/scientists-develop-hand-held-device-detection-brain.htm