The brain is the organ of quality of life: tragically, many critically ill adults and children acquire brain injury during the course of their therapy. Currently, there are few tools available to monitor the brain continuously, leaving clinicians primarily dependent on techniques which are ’snapshots’ in time (e.g., MRI). Bedside continuous tools now available are likely to show, rather than predict, injury (e.g., EEG) or are limited to trend monitoring (e.g., cerebral oximetry). Trend monitors are particularly problematic for the injured brain- the initial baseline measurements may well not be ’healthy’.

Brain tissue is critically sensitive to oxygen delivery; oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin have distinctly different spectra in the low-absorption ’near infrared window’ ~650-950nm. Diffuse optical spectroscopy can quantify hemoglobin concentrations and tissue scattering using light in this window. Additionally, diffuse correlation spectroscopy can quantify the motion of blood cells in tissue microvasculature using similar wavelengths.

Together, these tools provide a non-invasive, bedside, continuous method to monitor cerebral oxygen delivery. I will present data on neonatal circulatory arrest and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy in which this additional, quantitative, data provides unique insights into cerebral health in the critically ill child, potentially leading to new therapeutic targets and clinical practices.


Seminar, June 2, 2017, 15:00. Seminar Room

Hosted by Prof. Turgut Durduran