Three years following EU clearance, Infrascan out of Philly, PA finally received FDA approval of its Infrascanner Model 1000 device for detecting intracranial hematomas. The device uses near infrared light to penetrate the skull and detect intracranial blood collections. From the product page: Infrascanner™ is a hand-held, non-invasive, near-infrared (NIR) based mobile imaging device to detect brain hematoma at the site of injury within the “golden hour”. This refers to the period following head trauma when pre-hospital analysis is needed to rapidly assess the neurological condition of a victim. The InfraScanner™ can be a practical solution to the problem of early identification of intracranial hematomas because of the unique light-absorbing properties of hemoglobin and the non-invasive, non-ionizing nature of NIR technology. The basic method for Hematoma detection is based on the differential light absorption of the injured vs. the non-injured part of brain. Under normal circumstances, the brain’s absorption should be symmetrical. When additional underlying extra vascular blood is present due to internal bleeding, there is a greater local concentration of hemoglobin and consequently the absorbance of the light is greater while the reflected component is commensurately less. http://medgadget.com/2011/12/infrascanner-looks-for-bleeding-in-brain-injury-victims.html | ![]()
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