Blood-flow Detection Software may Prevent Brain Damage

Software that continuously tracks in real-time potentially dangerous changes in blood flow to the brain shows promise for preventing brain damage and death in children with head injuries, claims a new study.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center (Baltimore, MD, USA) and Cambridge University (England) created a software-based system that precisely determines the breakpoint at which the brain begins to lose its ability to cope with changes in blood pressure. This is done by gauging minute shifts in blood pressure and oxygenation every 60 seconds and alerting doctors when they approach critical levels. Using the software program developed by two Cambridge scientists, Hopkins doctors fed data into a computer from a blood pressure monitor and a spot oxygen saturation (SpO2) meter. The software essentially allows communication between these two staple devices, demonstrating the interplay between blood pressure and oxygen levels, whether the brain is coping with pressure changes, and more importantly, what blood pressure range is conducive to that. The study was published in the October 2007 issue of the journal Stroke.

"More tests are needed, but we have demonstrated the value of gathering much more detailed information over time about what safe levels of pressure and oxygen are in children,” said lead author Ken Brady, M.D., a critical-care specialist. "This intricate interplay between oxygenation and blood flow was the big unknown in what is indeed a simple equation, and now we've pinpointed the level where arterial blood pressure needs to be in order to promote healing in the injured brain.”

In traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), some brain damage occurs on impact, but a good deal of damage and indeed many deaths occur in the two-to-five-day window following the injury, a critical time when brain function must be monitored to ward off damage. This is when the new system will be most useful, according to the researchers. The technique could be also used in premature babies, who are particularly prone to ischemic strokes and bleeding in the brain because of their brains' immature self-regulatory mechanisms and their fragile blood vessels.


Related Links:
Johns Hopkins Children's Center
Cambridge University