A Multimodel Imaging Device for Diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury has been designated the “signature wound” of the Iraq war due to its prevalence. Over 43,000 cases of combat related TBI have been documented from 2003 through 2007. TBI is divided into two categories: primary and secondary. Primary injury in most cases is obvious. Secondary or closed brain injury however may exhibit no external markers and subtle symptoms. Current diagnostic techniques for secondary brain injury include surgical procedures and computed tomography, neither is feasible in a combat environment. Imperium Inc. and Infrascan Inc. together propose a handheld, real time, multimodel imaging device to meet the need for a battlefield imaging device to detect changes in intracranial pressure resulting from TBI. Recent research has identified ocular sonography with measurement of the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) as a reliable predictor of increased ICP. Imperium proposes that its ultrasound technology with clarity of imagery and ease of use provides a unique capability for the measurement of ONSD. The efficacy of Infrascan’s NIR technology in detecting intracranial hematomas has been proven in a large scale clinical trial. Imperium proposes to integrate these two proven technologies into a single imaging device to provide a comprehensive diagnostic tool for the field surgeon.