Neuromonitoring of Traumatic Brain/blast Injury

The objective of the proposed program is the development of a mobile and non-invasive cerebro-physiological monitor that will permit the tracking of cerebral functions and the identification of developing pathologic brain conditions in wounded soldiers during transport and under medical care in forward areas. Specifically, the purpose of the system will be to continuously track cerebral blood flow and perfusion by monitoring the state of autoregulation as well as by monitoring an EEG signal as a further detection mechanism for declining brain function. As part of the Phase I effort a working prototype system was designed, built, and tested. The approach of correlating REG signals and continuous blood pressure, using the CareTaker physiological monitor, to track cerebral autoregulation was demonstrated on a preliminary basis. Different signal processing approaches were examined and down-selected. The proposed Phase II effort will entail miniaturization of the hardware, FDA-approval process initiation and the validation of the brain monitoring concept in clinical studies, involving the monitoring of neuro-ICU patients as well as autoregulation manipulation in volunteers, as well as animal studies.