The NIH is funding a study to adapt a “non-invasive radiometric-sensing device” from Meridian Medical Systems of Woolwich, ME, in order to measure the temperature of newborns’ brains that have to undergo a brain cooling technique which prevents damage in cases of low oxygen levels.
A neonatologist at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters (CHKD) is leading the clinical trials of a $750,000 study funded Friday, Aug. 31, to develop a device to measure the precise temperature of a newborn’s brain.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant stems from recent studies showing that cooling of the brain of oxygen-starved newborns dramatically reduces the incidence of Cerebral Palsy, other neurological damage, and death.
While recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the brain-cooling regimen, doctors don’t yet have a precise way to measure the brain’s temperature. The NIH grant will allow researchers to adapt a non-invasive radiometric-sensing device — developed by Meridian Medical Systems of Woolwich, ME — to provide precise temperatures of brain tissue beneath the skull…
Under the NIH grant, Bass, Meridian and a team of EVMS research scientists will exploit the fact that all human tissue emits energy at microwave frequencies. Those emissions can travel through tissue, but only for a few millimeters, depending on the frequency. As the tissue’s temperature rises, emissions increase.
By tabulating the frequency and strength of electromagnetic emissions emanating from the body, Meridian has developed a device that can measure the temperature of tissue a given distance below the skin’s surface, even through a baby’s skull.
The research team hopes to use this technology to develop a small, lightweight device that can be affixed to an infant’s head to detect electromagnetic emissions generated 15 millimeters below the surface, giving doctors the exact temperature of the child’s brain.
Press Release: NIH grants $750,000 to develop device to determine temperature of neonate’s brain