Unmet Need: Medical imaging data is crucial for the proper diagnosis and treatment of a number of maladies. For surgeries on the brain, ears, eyes, nose, or throat, biometric imaging data are heavily relied upon in order to diagnose and monitor intracranial pathologies. MRI and CT scans are only intermittently available, are expensive, and do not provide ongoing real-time monitoring during the post-operative period when complications are most likely to emerge. Furthermore, CT scans emit ionizing radiation, which may be harmful to patients requiring long-term post-operative monitoring. Hand held, external, and wireless diagnostic ultrasounds are safe and available for general clinical use for long-term surveillance, but these devices are neither implantable nor MRI compatible and do not provide real-time monitoring.
Technology Overview: Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a miniaturized, MRI-compatible ultrasound transducer system that can be embedded into a cranial implant. This device contains a wireless data transmitter and can be customized to fit a cranial prosthetic. The device can generate and transmit wireless, non-ionizing ultrasound images and biometric data (pressure, blood flow, etc.) on demand, providing continuous details about the intracranial space to physicians. The ultrasonic frequency can also be reprogrammed remotely in order to image different tissue depths. In contrast to expensive, time consuming, and not readily available MRI and CT radiographs, this device provides a means for real-time, non-ionizing, continuous, and remote post-operative monitoring and long-term surveillance of the intracranial space.
Stage of Development: A patent-pending design is in the final stages of development, and will then move to large animal translational investigation.
