New head patch could effectively, easily monitor patients after stroke

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Florida have developed a new head patch to monitor stroke victims during their hospitalization. “About one-third of stroke patients in the hospital suffer another stroke, and we have few options for constantly monitoring patients for such recurrences,” explains the senior investigator of the study, neurocritical care specialist William Freeman, M.D., an associate professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic. The frontal near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can be stuck on a patient’s eyebrows like an adhesive bandage. Current practice is to observe patients and if a stroke is suspected, to get a computed tomography (CT) perfusion scan, which can cause side effects. In more severe cases physicians can insert oxygen probes, but they are invasive and have limitations, so this new technology has the potential to make the process of monitoring after a stroke easier on physicians and patients.

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