CNN.com recently reported that a computer scientist in London, England is creating a mobile Bluetooth enabled brain scanner, which is supposed to help prevent people from suffering brain damage after suffering from a stroke.
Dr. Alistair McEwan, from University College London, has received a grant of £140,000 ($253,000) by the charity Action Medical Research for the development of this device, Britain's Press Association (PA) reported.
The Bluetooth enabled scanner will be paired with a Bluetooth enabled computer located in ambulances. So, even before patients arrive at the hospital, paramedics will be able to use the device to scan patients who are suspected of suffering a stroke. As a result, life-saving treatment may be given immediately, PA said.
McEwan said the Bluetooth device will be lightweight, portable and inexpensive to use. "My plan is to design a device that can be simply placed on the patient's head to quickly provide an accurate assessment to allow treatment to start immediately," he told PA. The scanner will use Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT), a medical imaging method in which images are produced quickly using electrodes placed around the body, to detect changes or abnormalities in the brain.
New clot-busting drugs allow some stroke patients to make a full recovery if treated within three hours of their attack. But before administering the drugs, doctors must be sure of the cause of the stroke. In some cases giving patients the clot-busting drugs could make damage to the brain worse.
Currently, the only way to determine the cause of stroke is for the patient to have an MRI or CT scan, however both of theses tests take valuable time at the hospital. McEwan told PA he hoped his invention would help solve this problem because it will allow paramedics to provide treatment before the patient arrives at hospital.
"This is just the beginning. It's possible, for example, that images could be sent over the Internet to the hospital from the ambulance, and be reported by a radiologist, so that the hospital can be prepared for the patient before they arrive," McEwan said.
Posted August 15, 2005 by BlueTomorrow.com Editorial Staff
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