Patent ID: 6577884
Filing Date: 2003-06-10
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A method of detecting an ischemic event in a brain in a subject, the method comprisingadministering an oxygen bolus into the bloodstream of the subject; directing light into the brain of the subject; detecting light emitted from the brain over time at a detection location, wherein the oxygen bolus is present in the brain for at least a portion of the detection time, and the light emitted from the brain in the presence of the oxygen bolus is different from the light emitted from the brain in the absence of the oxygen bolus, the magnitude of the difference corresponding to a difference in concentration of total oxygen; establishing a reference time period corresponding to a time a peak concentration of the oxygen bolus takes to reach the detection location in a normal brain; determining a subject time period corresponding to a time a peak concentration of the oxygen bolus takes to reach the detection location in the subject; and comparing the subject time period with the reference time period, wherein a subject time period 1 or more seconds longer than the reference time period indicates an ischemic event in the brain.