Diffuse optical tomography system for acute traumatic brain injury in the intensive care unit: a prospective study on healthy volunteers

AbstractO_ST_ABSSignificanceC_ST_ABSCurrent systems for diffuse optical tomography (DOT) are unsuitable for clinical applications on acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients while in the intensive care unit (ICU). AimTo develop and test a method for DOT recordings suitable for TBI patients in the ICU. This method is based on measurements and co-registration using 3-D optical scans, and the acquisition of optical data using a custom-made helmet which would enable a multimodal (invasive and non-invasive) neuromonitoring. ApproachProbe displacements compared to electromagnetic digitization co-registrations were assessed. The capacity to isolate and monitor, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), the optical signal in the intracranial (ICT) and extracranial tissues (ECT) was tested on 23 healthy volunteers. Participants were scanned with a frequency-domain NIRS device (690 and 830 nm) during 5 Valsalva maneuvers (VM) in a simulated ICU environment. ResultsThe results showed an average error in probe displacement of 5.5 mm, a sufficient capacity to isolate oxyhemoglobin O2Hb (p=6.4{middle dot}10-6) and total hemoglobin HbT (p=2.8{middle dot}10-5) in the ICT from the ECT, and to follow the changes of hemoglobin in the ICT during the VM (O2Hb, p=9.2{middle dot}10-4; HbT, p=1.0{middle dot}10-3). ConclusionsThe developed approach appears to be suitable for use on TBI patients in the ICU.