New Device Detects Brain Injuries

If an athlete suffers a head injury on the field it is considered essential that the extent of the injury be determined as quickly as possible. Until recently, concussions were diagnosed by asking the victim a series of questions and observing his movements. Now Paul Stone, writing for Mashable news website, reports that Infrascan, a medical device company in Philadelphia, has invented a small portable device that detects bleeding in the brain.

Called the Infrascaner Model 2000, the instrument uses Near-Infrared (NIR) technology to screen patients for intracranial bleeding, identifying those who would most benefit from immediate referral to a CT scan and neurosurgical intervention. Company officials say that in the triage of head trauma patients, the Infrascaner can identify those most likely to have intracranial bleeding.

The manufacturer explains that the device includes a sensor and a cradle. The sensor has an eye safe NIR diode laser and an optical detector. The light to and from the laser and detector are optically coupled to the patient’s head through two disposable light guides. The detector signal is digitized and analyzed by a single board computer (SBC) in the sensor. The SBC receives the data from the detector, automatically adjusts the settings to ensure good data quality, further processes the data and displays the results on the device screen.

The scanner technology is based on the fact that the brain normally absorbs light equally across all eight quadrants. In the case of bleeding within the brain, the light is more absorbed by that injured area of the brain, which the tool is able to recognize. The FDA has approved the scanner for both civilian and military uses. The device, which was developed following specifications of the U.S. Marine Corps, can be powered either by a rechargeable battery pack or by four AA batteries.