Handheld Monitor Detects Subtle Brain Injury

A handheld device that can detect subtle brain damage could prove useful on the battlefield or on the football field, enabling brain damage to be detected almost immediately after mild head injuries.

The BrainScope, developed by researchers at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine (NY, USA), consists of an adhesive strip, containing six electrodes, which are connected to a mini-computer that resembles an oversized iPod. After a suspected head injury, a first responder affixes the electrode strip to the patient's forehead. The device automatically collects a sample of the patient's electroencephalograph (EEG) and computes a large number of quantitative EEGs (QEEGs) features, each of which are compared to a databank of normal scores. Within minutes, a color display indicates whether any of the patient's brain functions deviate from normal. The device is intended to be used as a triage instrument in a variety of settings, including battlefields, sporting events, emergency rooms, and clinics.

BrainScope is under development by BrainScope (Chesterfield, MO, USA) and is currently in preclinical testing at Bellevue Hospital Center (New York, NY, USA), Case-Western Reserve (Cleveland, OH, USA) and Washington University (St. Louis, MO, USA).

"The subtle brain dysfunction associated with such concussions is often invisible even to sophisticated imaging scanners, including CTs and MRIs. Moreover, such scans must be carried out in a hospital, and are typically performed hours or days after the initial injury, which delays treatment,” said E. Roy John, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and director of the Brain Research Laboratories (BRL) at NYU School of Medicine, who discovered how to translate EEG tracings recordings of the brain's electrical activity into QEEGs. "BrainScope could be used on the battlefield, improving the chance that soldiers with less obvious brain injuries will receive proper care.”


Related Links:
New York University School of Medicine
BrainScope