Traumatic brain injury

Project summary

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the first cause of death for adults younger than 25, while most of the survivors suffer from permanent brain damage. Therefore, it is necessary to improve patient management, with real-time and personalized treatment. Diffuse optics allows for a non-invasive monitoring of the cerebral well-being and of the effect of the therapy. The objective of this research line is to demonstrate and validate how diffuse optics can non-invasively deliver useful information about the brain of neuro-intensive care patients in order to guide the clinicians for the treatment.

Anemia is a frequent complication in neurocritical care. Approximately 95% of patients admitted to the intensive care unit are anemic, presenting hemoglobin values below the normal range during the first three days of onset. Anemia compromises the blood’s ability to transport O² and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality among critically ill and TBI patients. To address this complication, some 45% of these patients receive at least five units of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion. However, recent studies have reported adverse effects in the transfusion of RBCs in TBI patients. Researchers and clinicians hypothesize that this is caused by storage lesion, the change of properties in stored red blood cells over time, which may lead to a diminished ability to transport oxygen in RBCs.

This study will significantly increase understanding of the effect of storage lesion and transfusions on anemic TBI patients. Non-invasive thresholds for blood transfusion in TBI patients can be determined, making invasive methods unnecessary, and thus decreasing risk and improving the treatment of TBI patients and critical care as a whole. Photonics technology could ultimately replace some invasive monitors, currently necessary in some of the neuro-intensive care patients.