Handheld electroencephalography device quickly evaluate brain bleeding

A clinical trial undertook at eleven emergency departments nationwide has indicated that a handheld electroencephalography device can quickly and with 97% accuracy determine whether someone with a head injury is likely to have brain bleeding and requires further evaluation or treatment.

The Ahead 300 device, established by BrainScope Company, measures electrical activity in the brain and leverages a disposable sensor headset. The Food and Drug Administration cleared the handheld electroencephalography device for clinical use previous September.

Results of the clinical trial, published online in the peer-reviewed journal Academic Emergency Medicine, demonstrated that the device can assist with clinical decision support and triage of patients while potentially decreasing the requirement for CT scans, specifically as an adjunct to acute traumatic brain injury assessment where imaging might be unavailable.

“It is low cost, portable and gives you an objective measure of likelihood to have bleeding in the brain,” claims Daniel Hanley, MD, lead author of the study and Jeffrey and Harriet Legum Professor of Acute Care Neurological Medicine and director of the Brain Injury Outcomes Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“I consider it is going to objectify head injury in a way that it has not been before,” adds Hanley, who asserts that the Ahead 300 device is “the first of its kind and is likely to change the landscape of traumatic brain injury.”

Hanley considers that the handheld electroencephalography device lends itself to use beyond emergency departments (ED) for use in urgent care and concussion clinics, as well as sports and military environments. The research was funded in part by the U.S. Army. BrainScope’s website states that the Ahead 300 was established in partnership with the Department of Defense through 6 research contracts.

In accordance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 2.5 million Americans annually go to emergency departments with suspected head injuries. But, Hanley analyzes that the vast majority of those who present to the ED with mild symptoms following head injury receive a CT scan, however studies show that more than 90% of those scans show that patients do not have an intracranial brain injury.

“Out of an abundance of caution, you can always scan more individuals than you need to, which is what is going on now,” states Hanley, who points out that these CT scans result in needless radiation exposure and cost about $1,200 each scan.

At the similar time, Hanley asserts that the Ahead 300 device is not meant to replace CT scans for sufferers with mild head injuries, but instead gives clinicians with extra information to facilitate routine clinical decision-making. “It may be that we do fewer images” as an outcome of this study, he adds. “That will save money and make care more efficient.”

 

Move to electronic health records starts to change health care

At Froedtert Hospital, a sufferer with stomach pain was spared from having to undergo a CT scan, with its heavy dose of radiation, and instead got a safer, cheap ultrasound.

At MetroHealth System in Ohio, medication errors engaging heparin, a common but risky blood thinner, were eliminated in merely 1 year.

At ThedaCare in the Fox Valley, the fatality rate from sepsis, a complication from infections, has fallen sharply.

All of these betterments stemmed from the wise utilization of electronic health records — computerized systems that are replacing paper charts in medical settings across the country.

The transition has brought about a fair amount of grumbling from doctors about the systems' complication and sometimes clunky design. But the move away from paper records is plainly transforming the way health care is practiced.

Learn more about Stage 2 of Meaningful Use at HIMSS 2013

Attending HIMSS? Join CMS for an Educational Session on Stage 2 of Meaningful Use in the EHR Incentive Programs

 

CMS is participating at the 2013 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans from March 3 – 7.

 

Representatives from CMS are located at booth #2868 from 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 – 6:00 p.m. CT today to discuss the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.

March 5 Educational Session

If you are attending HIMSS, please join CMS' educational session #62, Stage 2: EHR Incentive Programs, held today in New Orleans Theater C from 9:45 – 10:45 a.m. CT.

 The session will discuss:

• An overview of the Stage 2 final rule


• Stage 2 CQMs


• Medicare payment adjustments and hardship exceptions

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