High-Density Diffuse Optical Tomography Images Brain Cortical Perfusion

The High-Density Diffuse Optical Tomography (HD-DOT) system from Cephalogics LLC has been used to measure and monitor very small focal changes in cortical perfusion resulting from visual stimulation in healthy volunteers, according to a recent study. This is the first report of imaging retinotopic stimuli in the visual cortex using a fiber-optic-free DOT system with a highly compact form factor, the company said.

The noninvasive, portable brain perfusion imaging system is designed to provide continuous bedside monitoring of regional brain oxygenation in patients suffering from stroke or traumatic brain injury. The imaging of retinotopic visual stimuli is consistent with earlier studies using standard Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and functional MRI (fMRI).

“The spatially detailed retinotopic maps we have presented demonstrate that this compact system is capable of replicating work that previously required large electronic systems and heavy fiber optic cables,” said Dr. Chandran Seshagiri, lead research scientist at Cephalogics. “The compact and portable nature of our device brings DOT into a form factor that can be used at the bedside while maintaining high performance.”

The results will be presented at the Human Brain Mapping conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

“These results provide further validation of our compact portable brain imaging system,” said Jeff Caputo, general manager of Cephalogics. “We are demonstrating high performance across a variety of environments from the lab to the hospital.”

Cephalogics develops noninvasive portable brain perfusion imaging systems.