InfraScan, Inc. is a medical device company that focuses on developing, commercializing, and distributing hand-held diagnostic devices for head injury and stroke assessment based on near infrared (NIR) technology. InfraScan Inc.’s patented NIR technology for diagnosing brain hematomas enables neurosurgeons to effectively, conveniently, and accurately detect intracranial bleeding in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
According to the World Health Organization, TBI will surpass many diseases as the major cause of death and disability by the year 2020. With an estimated 10 million people affected annually by TBI, the burden of mortality and morbidity that this condition imposes on society, makes TBI a pressing public health and medical problem. This burden disproportionately affects low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Those in LMIC are twice as likely to die following severe TBI as compared to those in high-income countries. Among various traumas, TBI has the highest mortality and the most serious consequences and is the most difficult to treat. It has been reported that patients who die of TBI account for 87% of all trauma deaths. TBI is frequently referred to as the ‘silent epidemic’ because complications from TBI, such as cognitive, sensory or emotional impairments may not be readily apparent.
Secondary brain injury, which occurs in minutes to days following primary injury, is the main cause of TBI mortality. Early identification, prevention, and correction of these events in the pre-hospital setting can lower the risk of secondary brain injury and reduce the case-fatality rate of TBI. For patients with moderate-to-severe TBI in particular, diagnosis within the first (“golden”) hour of the traumatic event is critical. Intracranial hemorrhage is a frequent and devastating sequela of TBI, occurring between one-third to a half of severe TBI cases. Intracranial hemorrhage is the leading cause of death in lethally injured trauma patients accounting for 40-50% of fatalities and results in a disability rate of nearly 100%. It has been suggested that organized emergency response systems and prompt transfer to trauma centers improve TBI patient morbidity and mortality. An important adjunct to this is the availability of computed tomography (CT) scanners and neurosurgeons, with rapid surgical intervention resulting in a reduction in deaths. However, there is only one CT scanner per 3.5 million people in low-income countries versus one per 64,900 in high-income countries. There are also fewer neurosurgeons per patient, with one neurosurgeon per three million patients in Sub-Saharan Africa as compared to one per 20,000 in Europe.
InfraScan Inc.’s Infrascanner™ is a handheld brain hematoma detector that caters to this unmet need. The Infrascanner™ provides an affordable, highly accurate, clinically effective system to detect and monitor brain hematomas, in patients with head trauma in settings where effective monitoring and triaging is necessary, and in places where access to CT Scans is restricted.
For patients with traumatic brain hematomas, a rapid diagnosis, followed by immediate evacuation to a location, which has both CT and neurosurgical intervention capability, is paramount to maximizing survivability and minimizing irreversible neurological impairment. Furthermore, especially with mild TBI, automatic patient evacuation to a trauma center is not practical, as it can lead to substantial resources waste and unnecessary risk to military helicopters crews.
In addition to being useful for TBI cases arising from motor vehicle accidents, accidental falls etc., the Infrascanner™ has a very specific application in detecting TBI on the battlefield. The relevance of the application of this technology in combat operations is demonstrated from the fact that the United States Military have provided over $10M in grants to develop the technology and fielded hundreds of systems in all US Marines Battalion Aid Stations, saving lives.
Website: https://infrascanner.com/