Portable Multi-Modal TBI (PMT) Monitor
Detecting head trauma by measuring visually evoked potential
Military Need
Brain injury is unfortunately prevalent in the military, and other populations of otherwise young healthy adults. Despite the potential for long-term damage, brain injury remains difficult to diagnose due to the subtlety of many symptoms. Definitive diagnosis requires multiple sensitive diagnostic tests that are not readily available for far forward use.
Military Relevance:
The military needed to miniaturize the visually evoked potential (VEP) test into a portable unit for medics in field hospitals. Vivonics' portable VEP integrates the entire VEP test into a single portable device and uses a mobile app paired with phone or tablet for clinician control.
The Portable Multi-Modal TBI (PMT) monitor is a quick, accurate, and repeatable quantitative test that can provide information as to a casualty’s brain health and stands to make a positive impact on the level of care that can be provided to soldiers. This can make a substantial impact in the care and treatment of military personnel, as well as a wide range of civilians. Military personnel experience head injuries at a higher rate than the general population, whether deployed or stateside. Brain injuries in general disproportionally affect the younger segment of the population, and so the long-term effects of these injuries require a disproportionate share of health care dollars, and adversely affect the quality of life for a long time. Being able to diagnose and therefore treat these injuries earlier in the process will make a positive impact on the outcomes and on cost of care.
Solution:
The PMT monitor incorporates multiple diagnostic tests onto a single head-worn platform, simplifying the test procedures and creating a single, portable, test apparatus for brain injury. It is a head-worn unit with on-board hardware to perform several important tests related to mTBI. Embedded electronics and a diagnostic software application provide a simple Red/Yellow/Green output to the test administrator to indicate whether the patient is within normal ranges (Green), outside of normal ranges (Red) or may require more detailed assessment (Yellow).
Disclaimer: This material is based upon work supported by the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command under Contract No. W81XWH-14-C-0009. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.
(Award W81XWH-14-C-0009 is titled: “Portable Multi-Modal TBI (PMT) Monitor” )
Product under development, not yet FDA approved
