When someone suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI), a quick and accurate diagnosis can mean the difference between life and death. Researchers at the United States National Institute of Health have created a hand-held device to quickly detect brain injuries, including hematomas which occur when blood vessels become damaged and blood seeps into surrounding tissues. This leakage can cause significant and dangerous swelling.

The device uses motion to detect changed in blood volume in the tough, outmost membrane that envelopes the brain and spinal cord. One of the uses of this device will be to detect TBI in patients before using more expensive techniques such as CT scans and MRI imaging. The researchers believe that this device will be most beneficial in places that do not have CT scans or MRIs available, including battlefields or on the scene of an accident.

Traumatic brain injuries are costly and can be damaging mentally for the families’ of the victim. It is estimated that over 1.4 million Americans suffer a TBI every year.

Tags: Traumatic Brain Injury Treatments

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Automobile Accidents, Personal Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.