Researchers have developed an optical fibre sensing system that could help doctors monitor patients for complications after a traumatic brain injury.
The technology tracks six biomarkers simultaneously to provide information on brain health, as well as predict the risk of secondary events.
Current methods cannot monitor muliple biomarkers
After a traumatic brain injury, such as a concussion, secondary damage can occur from swelling in the brain. Biomarkers found in blood or spinal fluid provide medical professionals with information on brain health; however, many current methods struggle to monitor multiple biomarkers at the same time.
The researchers set out to create an optical fibre system that monitors six key brain health biomarkers concurrently: temperature, pH, and concentrations of dissolved oxygen, glucose, sodium ions and calcium ions.
They outfitted six optical fibres with fluorescent tips specific to each biomarker. A special multi-wavelength laser was shone through the fibres and used to monitor the analytes. When one target analyte interacted with a fluorescent tip, the change in brightness was recorded by a computer.
Then the six fibres, along with an extra fibre to boost the calcium signal’s measurement, were incorporated into a 2.5-millimetre-thick catheter to create a cerebrospinal fluid sensing system. Machine-learning-driven algorithms detangled the fluorescence signals from one another, providing an easy readout of each biomarker.
Detecting a secondary brain event
The catheter sensing system successfully detected the six biomarkers in an experiment with animal brains designed to mimic the conditions of the human brain after a traumatic injury. Next, cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected from healthy human participants and spiked with the brain health biomarkers of interest.
The sensing system accurately determined pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen level in these samples and identified changes in the concentrations of the ions and glucose. The researchers say this work demonstrates that their optical fibre system can detect when a secondary injury might be imminent, and could help monitor complications from these traumatic injuries in patients.
Other photonics researchers are developing systems to monitor brain health. Electro Optics recently reported on a handeld Raman spectroscopy device that can diagnose traumatic brain injury ‘on the scene’.
