Traumatic brain injury neuroelectrochemical monitoring: behind-the-ear micro-instrument and cloud application.
Momen K Tageldeen, Sally A N Gowers, Chi L Leong and 2 others
PMID 32825829WHAT IT FOUND
A behind-the-ear prototype passed bench tests for brain electrical and chemical signals, but it has not been tested in patients, so it does not change care for physical, occupational or speech therapists.
Key findings
01The prototype was tested by measuring brain electrical and chemical signals through the full instrument and cloud stack.
02Playback of a patient electrocorticography recording preserved the low-frequency suppression trend needed to identify spreading depolarisations.
03In buffer tests, glucose and lactate working curves had R2 values of 0.998 and 0.995.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The paper reports bench and playback tests, not patient outcomes or clinical decision-making. Before a feasibility clinical trial, the hardware and microfluidic components still need integration into a wearable package and ethical approval. The Bluetooth link with the tested receiver capped throughput at 385 sps/channel; higher rates failed. It is designed only for low-frequency electrocorticography signals up to 30 Hz. Some potassium sensors had batch voltage offsets up to 200 mV, which can exceed the front-end input range.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the device improves traumatic brain injury care. It was validated only in bench tests and by replaying a recorded signal, and the authors state more integration and ethical approval are needed before a feasibility clinical trial.