New Brain Helmet Could Detect Stroke Earlier
Published: Apr 2, 2009A prototype “brain helmet” that provides real-time images of major blood vessels may enable emergency personnel to perform quick scans of potential stroke victims’ brains, according to a team of Duke University bioengineers who developed the device.
For patients suspected of having a stroke, the speed of diagnosis and subsequent treatment can make the difference between survival and death or disability.
Using 3-D ultrasound technology that they had earlier developed, the Duke team built a prototype device that positions ultrasound “wands,” or transducers, against the temples on either side of the head. Duke graduate student Brooks Lindsey designed a system that allows a computer to assemble both streams of ultrasound images into a three-dimensional color movie of the vessels and blood flow within the brain.
“We were able to demonstrate the feasibility of an ultrasound brain helmet producing multiple, simultaneous, real-time, three-dimensional images of the brain’s blood vessel distribution,” Lindsey said. He presented the results of the latest experiments at the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers’ annual Medical Imaging scientific sessions in Orlando, Fla. on Sunday, Feb. 8.
The most common type of stroke is caused by a blockage in a vessel in the brain. The only approved drug for this kind of stroke, a clot-buster known as tPA, must be given shortly after the onset of symptoms. However, before this kind of treatment can begin, physicians must scan the brain in a hospital with time-consuming imaging techniques such as MRI or CT scan to ensure the stroke is not the result of a bleed in the brain, which would be exacerbated by the clot-buster.
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