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futurity_medicine 00418.txt

#LED scanner safely peeks inside your brain New brain-scanning technology that shines dozens of tiny LED LIGHTS on the head works as well as more traditional methods without radiation exposure and bulky magnets. Researchers say the new optical approach is ideal for children and for patients with electronic implants, such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, and deep brain stimulators that are used to treat Parkinson disease. The magnetic fields in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) often disrupt either the function or safety of implanted electrical devices. Researchers have been developing the technology, called diffuse optical tomography (DOT), for more than 10 years, but the method had been limited to small regions of the brain. The new DOT instrument covers two-thirds of the head and for the first time can image brain processes taking place in multiple regions and brain networks such as those involved in language processing and self-reflection (daydreaming). hen the neuronal activity of a region in the brain increases, highly oxygenated blood flows to the parts of the brain doing more work, and we can detect that, says senior author Joseph Culver, associate professor of radiology at Washington University in St louis. t roughly akin to spotting the rush of blood to someone cheeks when they blush. The technique works by detecting light transmitted through the head and capturing the dynamic changes in the colors of the brain tissue. Although DOT technology is used now in research settings, it has the potential to be helpful in many medical scenarios as a surrogate for functional MRI, the most commonly used imaging method for mapping human brain function. Functional MRI also tracks activity in the brain via changes in blood flow. In addition to greatly adding to our understanding of the human brain, fmri is used to diagnose and monitor brain disease and therapy. Portable scans Another commonly used method for mapping brain function is positron emission tomography (PET), which involves radiation exposure. Because DOT technology does not use radiation, multiple scans performed over time could be used to monitor the progress of patients treated for brain injuries, developmental disorders such as autism, neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson, and other diseases. Unlike fmri and PET, DOT technology is designed to be portable, so it could be used at a patient bedside or in the operating room. ith the new improvements in image quality, DOT is moving significantly closer to the resolution and positional accuracy of fmri, says first author Adam T. Eggebrecht, a postdoctoral research fellow. hat means DOT can be used as a stronger surrogate in situations where fmri cannot be used. The researchers have many ideas for applying DOT, including learning more about how deep brain stimulation helps Parkinson patients, imaging the brain during social interactions, and studying what happens to the brain during general anesthesia and when the heart is stopped temporarily during cardiac surgery. Better image quality For the current study, published online in Nature Photonics, the researchers validated the performance of DOT by comparing its results to fmri scans. Data was collected using the same subjects, and the DOT and fmri images were aligned. They looked for Broca area, a key area of the frontal lobe used for language and speech production. The overlap between the brain region identified as Broca area by DOT data and by fmri scans was about 75 percent. In a second set of tests researchers used DOT and fmri to detect brain networks that are active when subjects are resting or daydreaming. Researchersinterests in these networks have grown enormously over the past decade as the networks have been tied to many different aspects of brain health and sickness, such as schizophrenia, autism and Alzheimer disease. In these studies, the DOT data also showed remarkable similarity to fmriicking out the same cluster of three regions in both hemispheres. ith the improved image quality of the new DOT system, we are getting much closer to the accuracy of fmri, Culver says. ee achieved a level of detail that, going forward, could make optical neuroimaging much more useful in research and the clinic. While DOT doesn let scientists peer very deeply into the brain, researchers can get reliable data to a depth of about one centimeter of tissue. That centimeter contains some of the brain most important and interesting areas with many higher brain functions, such as memory, language and self-awareness, represented. During DOT scans, the subject wears a cap composed of many light sources and sensors connected to cables. The full-scale DOT unit takes up an area slightly larger than an old-fashioned phone booth but Culver and his colleagues have built versions of the scanner mounted on wheeled carts. They continue to work to make the technology more portable. Culver and Washington University have financial interests in Cephalogics LLC based on a license of related optical imaging technology by the university to Cephalogics LLC. They are regulated in accordance with the university conflict-of-interest policies. The National institutes of health, Autism Speaks, a Fulbright Science and Technology Phd Award, and a Mcdonnell Centre for Systems neuroscience grant funded the research s

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