Traumatic Brain Injury: Infrascanner Promising in Diagnosis of Brain Injury

A bedside device to screen and diagnose brain injury currently is being tested in India. The device, called the Infrascanner, is a hand-held, non-invasive, near-infrared based device made by Dell. It is able to detect whether brain hematoma has occurred during the period of time in which pre-hospital analysis is vital to decide the neurological damage a victim of a brain injury has suffered.

Quick, Cheap, and Easy Bedside Diagnosis of Brain Injury

If the Infrascanner is approved, it offers a practical and affordable solution to detecting intracranial hematomas by exploiting the unique light-absorbing properties of hemoglobin and the non-invasive, non-ionizing nature of NIR technology. If more vascular blood is present because of internal bleeding, there is a greater localized concentration of hemoglobin, and the absorbance of light is greater while the reflected amount is less.