New Bedside Monitoring Technology for Stroke Patients
Earlier this month, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine completed and released preliminary results of "the first demonstration of a noninvasive optical device to monitor cerebral blood flow in patients with acute stroke."
Earlier this month, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Penn) completed and released preliminary results of “the first demonstration of a noninvasive optical device to monitor cerebral blood flow in patients with acute stroke.”
The technology, diffuse correlation spectroscopy, tested during the study included use of embedded optical probes that were “placed over major cortical blood vessels in each hemisphere of the brain,” lasers, photon-counting detectors, radio-frequency electronics, data processors, and a computer monitor through which physicians and nurses could evaluate the images being delivered.
“What we have demonstrated is a working prototype of a non-invasive brain probe that uses diffusing light to detect physiological changes such as blood flow, blood-oxygen saturation and hemoglobin concentration to inform clinicians about their treatments,” Arjun Yodh, principal investigator and professor of physics at Penn.
Through this study, researchers are hoping to learn how to “improve the management of patients with stroke and other brain disorders by providing continuous bedside monitoring of brain blood flow and metabolism.”
Dr. John Detre, associate professor of neurology and radiology at Penn, said, “The ability to quantify tissue hemodynamics at the bedside would provide new opportunities both to learn more about blood-flow changes in patients with acute stroke and to optimize interventions to increase blood flow for individual patients.”
Related Articles:
Bedside Monitoring of Cerebral Blood Flow in Patients with Acute Hemispheric Stroke
Role of Monitoring in Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients
