Non invasive intracranial pressure measurement
In situations where our brain experiences a force of impact, for example, falling and hitting your head or being in a car accident, our brain sustains trauma. ICP is the build-up of pressure in the brain due to trauma, and it’s the key physiological indicator of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
TBI can be caused by anything as small as a bump, blow or jolt to the head or a major impact such as an object suddenly and violently hitting or piercing the skull and brain tissue. This disrupts the brain’s normal function, which can ultimately be life-threatening. TBI is the number one cause of death and disability in European young adults; a total of 2.5 million people suffer from a TBI in Europe each year, with 75,000 cases resulting in death. In the US, the annual healthcare costs of TBI exceed 70 billion dollars annually. There is also a growing concern in Europe and the US about the impact of TBI during amateur and professional sports, as well as the chronic effects of TBI, which may result in a predisposition to dementia later in life. Any patient suffering from TBI can experience debilitating symptoms for several months after the incident.
Currently, the direct measurement of ICP is not readily available as it is achieved through a highly invasive and expensive procedure involving drilling a hole in the patient’s skull and inserting a pressure sensor into the patient’s brain. These factors severely hinder the diagnosis of TBI, affecting the quality of treatment clinicians can provide to their patients. It’s imperative for clinicians to know the patient’s correct level of ICP in various situations, as it helps them understand a patient’s condition and determine the appropriate treatment.
Crainio sets out to revolutionise how we measure ICP by developing a non-invasive, inexpensive measurement instrument that uses a simple probe attached to the patient’s forehead.