A Portable and Rapid Stroke Imaging and Classification Device

Abstract

Introduction: In stroke management, time to treatment is directly proportional to morbidity and mortality. The time lapse between arriving at a hospital and receiving treatment can easily exceed one hour, with most of this time being spent waiting for and operating the CT machine. Imaging is necessary prior to treatment to differentiate between ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, which boast vastly different treatments. Here, we describe a novel portable sensor that can classify stroke and produce images in minutes. Objective: To create of a compact, noninvasive device that can classify stroke and produce an image to localize hemorrhages in minutes. Methods: Multiple inductive-damping sensors with varying magnetic field strengths were built in house, with the largest sensor 11cm in diameter. Sixteen gelatin brain models with identical electrical properties to live brain tissue were developed and placed within plastic skull replicas. Saline was diluted to the conductivity of blood and placed within the brain by a third party to simulate a hemorrhage. Bleed sizes ranged from 20-200mL. Individuals scanning were blinded to bleed location, and sensors were tangentially rotated around the skull models to localize blood. Data was also used to create MRI-style images using MATLAB. Results: Our novel sensor accurately predicted the location of bleeds in all 16 experiments. The lower limit of volume detection was found to be 25mL. The maximal blood detection range of the sensors was found to be 5cm from the skull, and hemorrhage detection and image processing took 2.43 minutes on average (attached figure, bottom images are actual bleed location, top images are predicted bleed location from sensor). Conclusion: We demonstrate the feasibility of a device that may reduce the high morbidity and mortality associated with stroke by providing rapid bedside diagnostics and reduced time to treatment. Further animal and human experiments are necessary to fully establish the efficacy of this device.

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