Enabling ultrasound imaging through the skull to see blood flow in the brain

Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Imaging of Brain Perfusion (ClearSkull)

Traumatic brain injuries are a leading cause of global death and disability, with an annual incidence of 69 million cases. Transcranial Doppler ultrasound imaging (TCDi) could revolutionize brain injury patient care by providing accessible, real-time brain perfusion imaging. However, the skull's acoustic barrier currently prevents its use. The ClearSkull project aims to overcome skull-induced wave aberrations and low-amplitude signals to enable TCDi. Erasmus MC, in collaboration with us4us and Maxeler, will study the fundamental principles of this challenge and develop solutions for transcranial brain perfusion imaging.

The long-term societal impact of TCDi is immense, and the urgency of pursuing it is critical. TCDi will equip clinicians with vital information for immediate treatment decisions essential for TBI and stroke. This portable imaging technology will benefit brain disease diagnostics by reducing reliance on large hospital scanners, allowing for more cost-effective and widespread patient imaging outside traditional settings, thus creating a new model for brain pathology diagnosis.

Understanding how the skull aberrates waves is key to digitally reversing the process to achieve clear brain perfusion images necessary for traumatic brain injury treatment. While these aberrations are unknown for a closed skull, advancements in artificial intelligence and physics-powered machine learning algorithms can now learn the changes from echo data analysis. Identifying the skull aberration signature through advanced machine learning enables the recovery of clear brain perfusion images.

The ClearSkull project will deliver: A) An optimized ultrasound setup for transcranial imaging with a high signal-to-noise ratio, B) An accurate acoustic model of skull aberrations from experimental measurements, and C) Machine learning algorithms to correct ultrasound signal aberrations caused by the skull. This integrative and multidisciplinary approach by the ClearSkull team represents a crucial step toward accessible and affordable brain perfusion imaging.

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Summary
Traumatic brain injuries are a significant global health challenge, with millions of incidents occurring annually. Effective intervention relies on accessible imaging of brain perfusion. The ClearSkull project seeks to address this critical, unmet need by developing a portable, cost-effective and user-friendly transcranial Doppler ultrasound imaging technique for real-time, brain-perfusion imaging.
Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
1 - 4
Time period
48 months
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