Infrascanner™ in the diagnosis of intracranial lesions in children with traumatic brain injuries

• Published in: Brain injury Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 18 - 22
• Main Authors: Semenova, Zh. B., Marshintsev, A. V., Melnikov, A. V., Meshcheryakov, S. V., Adayev, A. R., Lukyanov, V. I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Informa Healthcare 02-01-2016
• Subjects: Adolescent; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - complications; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - diagnosis; Child; Child, Preschool; Craniocerebral Trauma - complications; Craniocerebral Trauma - diagnosis; Female; Humans; Infrascanner; intracranial haemorrhage; Intracranial Hemorrhages - complications; Intracranial Hemorrhages - diagnosis; Male; mild head injury; near-infrared spectroscopy; paediatric TBI; Risk Factors; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spectrophotometry, Infrared - methods; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods; traumatic brain injury; traumatic brain injury; near-infrared spectroscopy; mild head injury; Infrascanner; intracranial haemorrhage; paediatric TBI
• DOI: 10.3109/02699052.2014.989401
• EISSN: 1362-301X
• ISSN: 0269-9052

Background: The number of traumatic injuries among children is increasing. However, so-called mild TBI might result in unfavourable outcomes. Early diagnosis of intracranial haematomas prior to development of serious complications may be a decisive factor for a favourable outcome. InfraScan company developed and brought to the market the Infrascanner® model 1000, which is a portable detector of blood collections that operates in the near infrared (NIR) band.
Objective: To estimate the efficiency of the Infrascanner® model 1000 for detection of intracranial haematomas among children with mild TBI.
Materials and methods: Ninety-five patients with mild TBI were examined. An indication for cerebral CT after mild TBI was the presence of risk factors of intracranial lesions. The Infrascanner was used by a neurosurgeon during primary examination. CT was performed in 43 patients (45%), while 52 patients (55%) with a low risk of intracranial lesions were under observation.
Results: The results of examination of patients using CT and infrared scanning coincided in 39 cases and intracranial haematomas were detected in eight patients. False-positive results were obtained in three cases. The sensitivity of the procedure used in this group of patients with a medium and high risk of development of intracranial haemorrhages was 1.00 (0.66; 1.00). The specificity was 0.91 (0.81; 1.00)-the proportions and a 95% CI. The false-positive risk is 0.27 (0.00; 0.58). During infrared scanning in patients with low risk of intracranial lesions, false-positive results were obtained in four cases and false-negative results were absent.
Conclusion: Infra-scanning might be viewed as a screening technique for intracranial haemorrhages in ambulances and outpatient trauma centres in order to decide on hospitalization, CT scanning and referral to a neurosurgeon. Infra-scanning combined with evaluation of risk factors of intracranial damage might reduce the number of unnecessary radiological examinations.