Overview
- This week a team led by the University of Waterloo published results in Science Translational Medicine on NeuroSense, a device that attaches to external brain drains to monitor cerebrospinal fluid in near real time.
- The smartphone-sized, 3D-printed unit houses four sensors that read glucose, lactate, pH and flow rate and sends those measurements to a bedside electrochemical analyzer and display.
- Laboratory tests showed the sensors were specific, remained stable in human cerebrospinal fluid for several days, and tolerated ethylene-oxide sterilization, and a small ICU evaluation found strong correlation with standard lab tests.
- Researchers are adding automated clinician alarms, planning larger and more diverse clinical trials, and refining components and manufacturing steps as part of a pathway toward regulatory review and commercialization.
- If validated at scale, the system could speed detection of infections that affect roughly 25,000 U.S. patients who need brain drains each year and may help reduce the up to 20% infection rate that often doubles hospital stays.