Scientists at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have applied wavelet analysis technology to identify which oxygen-deprived new-born babies benefit from therapy to prevent brain damage. Wavelet analysis technology is better known for its use in weather forecasting, and in predicting weather patterns such as El Niño.
Complications during birth can result in babies being starved of oxygen for extended periods, leading to brain damage. It has been known for a while that reducing the core temperature of the babies, using cooling blankets, can help to reduce the impact of this neurologic damage.
However, about only half of all infants benefit from the treatment, and until now, doctors couldn’t tell which babies did or didn’t. For those that don’t benefit, different therapies might be needed. The wavelet technology integrates data from amplitude EEG and near infrared spectroscopy, which are routinely performed in neonatal intensive care. The data are used to produce real-time heat maps of the infant’s brain and assess the effect of cooling therapies on reducing brain damage.
Dr. Lina Chalak, lead author on the study recently published in Scientific Reports, explained how the heatmaps relate to brain function: “What this technology does is measure physiologic parameters of the brain-blood flow and nerve cell activity, to produce a real-time image of what we are calling ‘neurovascular coupling’. If there is high coherence between these two variables, you know that things are going well.”
Study in Scientific Reports: Novel Wavelet Real Time Analysis of Neurovascular Coupling in Neonatal Encephalopathy…
Via: UT Southwestern…
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