Some researchers from the University of Cincinnati have demonstrated that EEG neurofeedback can measure the same brain activity acutely at the same levels as the electrodes being placed directly on the brain tissue. They ran the demonstration with 18 patients who had just undergone surgery for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
One of the risks of brain surgery subsequent to a TBI is that of a depolarization. Which is when neuron imbalances progressively spread away from areas of the brain aka “Brain Tsunamis” which also causes loss of blood flow to those areas. This is extremely dangerous and needs constant monitoring.
“This landmark observation broadens the spectrum of patients and conditions that can be monitored for the occurrence of spreading depolarizations,” says co-investigator Norberto Andaluz, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery and director of the UC Neurotrauma Center at the UC Neuroscience Institute.
With this recent observation the potential to supply patients with non-invasive EEG neural-monitoring has greatly increased. Until this discovery the only way doctors knew how to monitor spreading depolarizations was through directly inserting surgical leads into the patient’s brain. Naturally this procedure has been something doctors only wanted to do when absolutely necessary and so with the knowledge that EEG can ascertain the same information without surgical measures we embark on a time when more brain tsunamis can be avoided and more lives changed for the better.
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