A NEUROLOGICAL FUNCTION MONITOR FOR NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE

IT HAS BEEN SHOWN THAT CONTINUOUS NEUROLOGICAL FUNCTION MONITORING CAN SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE DIAGNOSES, MANAGEMENT, AND OUTCOME OF NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT PATIENTS. AT PRESENT, THIS TYPE OF MONITORING IS NOT DONE ON A ROUTINE BASIS DUE TO TECHNICAL INADEQUACIES OUR INNOVATION WILL OVERCOME. THIS PROJECT WILL INVOLVE THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF ALGORITHMS FOR SEIZURE TRACKING AND QUANTIFICATION WHICH CANBE IMPLEMENTED IN A LOW-COST, MICROCOMPUTER-BASED MONITOR. THE EVALUATION PROCESS WILL COMPARE THESE ALGORITHMS TO MONITORING DONE (A) WITH AN EEG MACHINE, (B) BY CLINICAL OBSERVATION, AND (C) WITH A COMMERCIAL SEIZURE SCREENING DEVICE. THE SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY OF THE ALGORITHMS TO ARTIFACTS WILL ALSO BE TESTED. LONG TERM OBJECTIVES (PHASE II) INVOLVE REFINEMENTS IN THE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES TO INCREASE THEIR SPECIFICITY AND SENSITIVITY TO THE NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF INTEREST AND TO MORE READILY REJECT ARTIFACT. SEVERAL MONITORS WILL BE BUILT DURING PHASE II AND TESTED IN A NUMBER OF NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNITS.