A group of researchers found a noninvasive way to calculate blood flow in the human brain. Their findings are summarized in a press release.
The scientists from the California Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, Rancho Research Institute, the University of Toledo, and the National Neuroscience Institute of Singapore in APL Bioengineering (by AIP publishing), aimed to make understanding neurological conditions safer. To do this, they created a “system that uses optical spectroscopy to measure blood flow noninvasively.”
The device can tell the difference between blood that flows to the scalp and blood that flows to the brain. The tool is the first of its kind, according to AIP. It is placed in a headband that is worn across the forehead and “contains a light source and seven detectors arranged in increasing distance from the artery.” Additional detectors “pick up shallower optical data, like signals from the scalp, while ones with a greater distance receive a deeper and broader set of signals.”
Furthermore, the researchers also discovered that softly putting some pressure on a patient’s superficial temporal artery for a few seconds shortly blocks the superficial temporal artery. That significantly reduces the “signals from the shallower channels corresponding to the scalp” but doesn’t alter the other channels.
Study author Max Huang said in a press release, “We’ve established a safe, simple, and repeatable experimental framework that other researchers can use to validate their own noninvasive optical systems. Instead of relying solely on simulations, groups can now use superficial temporal artery occlusion to get real-world data on their device’s scalp versus brain sensitivity.”
