Eddy Current Damping Stroke Sensor

Abstract

Existing paradigms for stroke diagnosis typically involve computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to classify ischemic versus hemorrhagic stroke variants, as treatment for these subtypes varies widely. Delays in diagnosis and issues related to transport of unstable patients may worsen neurological status. As such, translational medical devices that accelerate time to treatment in the field or hospital setting have the potential to lower morbidity and mortality in stroke patients. We demonstrated feasibility of rapid and accurate bedside stroke detection using a novel, handheld portable eddy current damping imaging device in laboratory benchtop as well as live human clinical ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke settings. We show that diagnosis of stroke may potentially be reduced from several hours to minutes, with additional spatial localization of intracranial hemorrhage, thereby rapidly guiding time-sensitive medical decisions for clinical intervention such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). The sensor additionally detects ischemic and hemorrhagic lesions located deep inside the brain, and its range can be selectively tuned during sensor design and fabrication.