3-D Ultrasound Provides Window on the Brain

Duke researchers want to punch dime sized holes into your skull to take three dimensional images of your brain.

The “brain scope,” which is inserted into a dime-sized hole in the skull, may be particularly useful for the bedside evaluation of critically ill patients when computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment is unavailable, the researchers said. They report the development in a forthcoming issue of the journal Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, which is currently available online. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Brain surgeons now rely primarily on two-dimensional images produced by MRI or ultrasound, said Edward Light, a research and development engineer in the biomedical engineering department at Duke. “The problem is that without 3-D, you could miss something,” he said. MRI machines are also expensive and require a dedicated space with special surgical tools that can be used in close proximity to the imagers’ powerful magnets.
Last year, the Duke team, led by biomedical engineering Professor Stephen Smith, reported the development of a 3-D ultrasound device designed for imaging the heart and other internal organs during endoscopic surgeries performed through tiny “keyhole” incisions about 3 centimeters in diameter. To make the probe more suitable for brain scanning, the researchers shrunk it even further, to fit through a 10 millimeter hole in the skull.
The researchers demonstrated that the brain scanner can successfully image the brain of a dog. Guided by the device, team member Srinivasan Mukundan of Duke Medical Center directed a needle into a particular region of the animal’s brain, as is required in surgeries to drain cerebrospinal fluid and relieve pressure on the brain. In a second animal, the researchers made use of dyes to enhance ultrasound images of blood vessels in the brain.

Maybe we should wait for the Brain Scope 2.0 that can see through bone rather than drill through it…
Press Release…
Duke University Ultrasound Transducer Group…