Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Traumatic brain injury is a serious public health problem in the United States, accounting for nearly 1.7 million injuries and 52,000 deaths annually. The initial brain injury is made worse by secondary events which include, but are not limited to, ischemia, swelling, cell damage and brain functions abnormalities which, while posing therapeutic challenges, offer therapeutic opportunities. Unfortunately, in spite of significant efforts, no effective indisputable treatment which would effectively alleviate consequences of this often devastating event currently exists. Multimodality neuromonitoring could provide early warning of secondary brain injury and guide individualized therapy. However, it is rarely done due to the complexity of using multiple devices and the increased risk of complications. This article presents a novel multifunctional smart catheter to continuously and accurately monitor multiple physiological, metabolic and electrophysiological parameters that are vitally important in guiding the care of patients with traumatic brain injury. In addition to measuring various crucial parameters, the developed smart catheter allows for drainage of excess cerebrospinal fluid as a therapeutic strategy to reduce intracranial pressure. The studies which were performed under a rat permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion model indicate that the smart catheter, a single probe, can dynamically detect changes in cerebral glucose, lactate, oxygen, glutamate, temperature, local cerebral blood flow and intracranial pressure that correlated with spreading depression. These results demonstrate that the smart catheter is capable of simultaneous and continuous measurement of multiple brain variables, within the pathophysiology ranges observed in brain injury. The smart catheter has the potential to improve our understanding of brain pathophysiology and advance the field of neuromonitoring into a completely new era in which medical decisions will be based on comprehensive, real-time measures of brain chemistry and physiology during the critical period immediately following a brain injury.
Source: Bioelectronic Medicine
Authors: Chunyan Li, Raj K. Narayan
Institutions: Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Hofstra University
Language: English
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,590
Funder: U.S. Department of Defense
OpenAlex ID: W2898094925