14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers at the University of Lund, in Sweden, announce a major breakthrough in the field of medical observations techniques. They have devised a way of keeping track of blood flow in patients heads in real-time, a feat that will eliminate the numerous inconveniences related to already-existing imaging methods such as CAT scans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and PET scans. The team's work could allow doctors to save countless lives in the field, and will especially benefit neuro-intensive care units, AlphaGalileo reports.
In addition to these obvious advantages, the new imaging method could also be used for a wide variety of other applications, such as figuring out whether a certain course of treatment is working correctly or not. This could be especially true in emergency rooms, where doctors have to make split-second decisions about what chemicals to administer to their patients. The sooner they figure out if they've made any errors, the faster they are likely to change their approach. This basically translates into higher overall survival chances. Existing imaging methods only capture a moment in time as far as blood flow goes, and the data may not be really relevant anymore just five minutes later.
In recent studies, it has been determined that the blood flow rate in the human brain varies considerably over time, much more so than previous investigations had hinted at. Under these circumstances, such as for instance when dealing with severe head injuries and stroke, knowing how to act means that half of the battle is won. “In order to make diagnoses and quickly be able to see if the medication given is right for the brain, this information is very important in a neurointensive care unit. Today magnetic resonance imaging scans and other examinations are carried out, but these are expensive, unreliable, time-consuming and only provide information about blood flow at the time of the examination,” says Skane University Hospitals doctor Peter Reinstrup.
“With this method we not only get information about blood flow in the brain directly and continuously; the information can also be stored, which means that we can review previous care more easily,” he adds. “If an individual suffers a head injury, e.g. after falling or receiving a knock on the head, the cerebral blood flow follows a course in which the flow varies with time. It is important for us to constantly regulate the flow so that it does not become too high, as the brain could then swell, or too low, as the brain could then suffer from a lack of oxygen,” the expert explains further .