The Circle of Willis is a ring-like arterial structure located in the base of the brain, and distributes oxygenated blood, to the cerebral arteries. The circle is of particular importance because it allows for blood to be re-routed through the arteries in order to maintain oxygen supply to all of the cerebral territories.
An advanced 3D computer model has been developed from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data and uses a technique known as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to model the blood flow throughout the circle of Willis. The simulation results give the response of the circle to different pathological conditions, including the combined effects variations in cerebral-vasculature with atherosclerotic plaque build-up. The long term goal of the project involves the development of a clinical diagnostic tool for automatically recreating a 3D model of an individual’s cerebral vasculature, from an MRI scan and using CFD to predict the likelihood of stroke in the short term, or the risk associated with various surgical procedures such as carotid endarterectomy.
Sedation-Agitation Sensor
Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are often intubated to help them breathe, and sedated to minimize pain and agitation from the intubation as well as other injuries. Patients that are not sedated enough often become agitated and try to remove the breathing tube causing distress and anxiety that are difficult to control without unnecessary extra sedation.
The goal of this project is to
Create a sensor array to measure patient motion with existing sensor technology
Correlate and quantify patient motion to existing qualitative agitation scales
The basic premise is that patient motion, and other metrics, are directly correlated to patient agitation. Current measures of patient agitation are qualitative relying on medical staff to make periodic, subjective judgments.The application of modern sensor and signal processing technology presents the opportunity to gather more data and apply it to create a qualitative, far more precise, determination of patient agitation. Success would enable better sedation-agitation modelling as well as a more quantified approach to controlling sedation processes. This project is run in conjunction with Dr. Geoff Shaw, M.D. a research anesthesiologistwith the Christchurch Hospital and the Otago School of Medicine.
http://www.bioengineering.canterbury.ac.nz/groups/brain.shtml
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