Neuromonitoring of Traumatic Brain/blast Injury

It is well known that the brain is the organ most sensitive to ischemia/hypoxia. Noninvasive continuous monitoring of cerebral blood flow autoregulation, cerebrovascular reactivity and related phenomena such as cerebral vasospams in combat casualties could guide clinicians/medics in adjusting the strategy of resuscitation and acute care, and therefore contribute to a substantially improved survival and functional outcome. We propose to develop a small, light-weight, battery powered and hand-portable 3-channel monitor that combines electro- and rheoencephalography (EEG and REG). While REG detects changes in cerebral vascular bed, EEG can be used to detect post-traumatic non-convulsive seizures or reversible breakdown of the synaptic transmission. The monitor consists of a smaller (2 x 2 x 0.5 in) wearable unit for data acquisition and a larger (7 x 5 x 0.8) unit for visualization and storage of data. The units communicate to each other wirelessly, via a Bluetooth link, or through a cable. The larger unit processes the incoming data in real time, and warns clinicians (via an audio alarm) of a deterioration of the patient''s condition. The bigger unit can connect to a LAN or the internet so that the REG/EEG data can be downloaded and analyzed offline by clinicians.