Portable Device for Noninvasive Monitoring of PTSD and mTBI

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are considered to be among the hallmark injuries of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of the 4,000 people with traumatic brain injuries in the Defense Department’s TBI registry, 80 to 85 percent have mTBI and 10 to 20 percent of troops screen positive for PTSD during redeployment screenings. Among the various neurodiagnostic devices, electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) are most amenable for integration into a low-cost, portable system. Combining the EEG-based electrophysiological signals and fNIRS-based hemodynamic signals may prove to be effective in screening/diagnosing mTBI and PTSD. In the proposed program we plan to combine a novel fNIRS system with EEG and build an EEG-fNIRS integrated device that will provide the platform for U.S. Army researchers to develop diagnostic models for PTSD and mTBI. The platform will consist of a skull cap embedded with ECG electrodes and fNIRS optodes, and hardware for data acquisition, synchronization and data formatting. The instrumented cap will be designed to allow easy donning with minimal preparation and will allow the wearer sufficient movement required to conduct physical and cognitive tasks during evaluation.