Medical Design Briefs - October 2022 - 39

AI-Enabled Optical Fiber Sensor Device Monitors
Brain Injury
The sensor device
measures key biomarkers
simultaneously.
Imperial College London
London, UK
An AI-enabled, optical fiber sensor device
can measure key biomarkers of traumatic
brain injury simultaneously. The
promising results from tests on animal
brain tissues suggest it could help clinicians
to better monitor both disease progression
and patients' response to treatment
than is currently possible, which
indicate the high potential for future diagnostic
trials in humans. The sensor was
developed at Imperial College London
People who experience a serious blow
to the head, such as during road traffic
accidents, can suffer traumatic brain injury
(TBI) - a leading cause of death
and disability worldwide that can result
in long-term difficulties with memory,
concentration and solving problems.
TBIs need to be continuously monitored
during treatment. For this reason,
intracranial probes are used in neurocritical
care settings to monitor key indicators
of injury progression, called biomarkers,
like pressure and oxygen in
the brain.
Some of these probes can measure
only one biomarker at a time. Others can
monitor several biomarkers but require
several tubes inserted into the brain to
do so, which risks causing further tissue
damage or infections.
Imperial researchers have now developed
a patient monitoring system to
monitor multiple biomarkers following
traumatic brain injury. The device combines
the ability to monitor four biomarkers
at once with machine learning
algorithms that use previous data to predict
biomarker concentrations based on
obtained data in real-time. If optimized
and proven for use in humans, the device
could help hospitals to more effectively
monitor TBI.
Lead author Dr. Yubing Hu, at Imperial's
department of chemical engineering,
says, " This is a promising breakthrough.
Our promising results indicate both accurate
biomarker monitoring and precise
predictions of injury progression which,
after further development, could help clinicians
monitor
both
n
Testing the Device
The device comprises a flexible silicabased
optical fiber that is inserted into
patients'
brain
health and response to treatment. "
The research is published in Matter.
brain tissue to monitor the cerebrospinal
fluid (CSF) - the liquid that surrounds
the brain and spinal cord. Attached
to the tip of the fiber are four
sensing films which simultaneously and
continuously measure levels of one biomarker
each within the CSF: pH, temperature,
dissolved oxygen, and glucose.
The films are covered with a black sheath
to reduce background noise and improve
data precision.
To test the device, the researchers continuously
monitored levels of these biomarkers
in a lamb brain under various
states. The lamb brain, which had not suffered
TBI and was therefore healthy, was
suspended in artificial CSF that the researchers
could tweak to mimic the brain
chemistry of mild and severe TBI at will.
First, they measured biomarkers in the
healthy CSF, before moving on to measuring
them in mild and then severe TBI
states. To mimic the scenario when TBI
patients get better from medical treatments,
they then measured again in the
mild TBI state.
First author Yuqian Zhang, a PhD candidate
of the department of chemical engineering,
says, " Our device collects a
breadth of medical data that's currently
only achievable with many different sensors.
The optical fiber sensor device integrated
with artificial intelligence (AI) to
reduce cross-talks. "
Co-author Dr. Nan Jiang of Sichuan
University adds, " The device demonstrated
high accuracy in continuously measuring
each biomarker during healthy,
mild TBI, and severe TBI disease states. "
n Dynamic Monitoring
Its high performance included high
sensitivity (the ability to detect trace
amounts of biomarker), selectivity (the
ability to discern between biomarkers),
stability (the ability to provide longterm
monitoring with minimum signal
drift), biocompatibility (the ability for
the sensor to interact safely with brain
tissue during long-term implantation),
and robustness.
The AI-enabled, optical fiber sensor device measures key biomarkers of traumatic brain injury
simultaneously. (Credit: Imperial College London)
Medical Design Briefs, October 2022
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
The machine learning models were
able to accurately predict biomarker concentrations
in real-time using readouts
from a library of previous measurements.
It was also able to identify transition
39

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