By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Might 30, 2024 — California skateboarder Jared Hager has turn into the primary particular person to obtain a clear cranium alternative, which permits medical doctors to higher view the perform of his mind.
The window has allowed medical doctors to each monitor his progress and check new and higher scanning strategies for assessing mind well being.
Hager, 39, of Downey, Calif., sustained a traumatic mind damage from a skateboarding accident at a Palm Springs reservoir in April 2019.
“I simply went down this hill with out even it, which is sort of a actually dumb factor to do,” Hager informed ABC Information.
Throughout emergency surgical procedure, half of Hager’s cranium was eliminated to alleviate strain on his mind.
Docs had deliberate to interchange the cranium bone as soon as Hager recovered, however the pandemic derailed these plans. Elective surgical procedures had been halted, leaving Hager with simply pores and skin and connective tissue defending his mind for 2 years.
“Even when a stick hits my head, it is simply my mind proper right here. It is simply my mind.” Hager recalled.
However the timing made Hager an ideal candidate to obtain an experimental cranium implant product of a fabric that resembles plexiglass.
By this “window,” medical doctors have examined new ultrasound and CT methods that produce high-resolution mind photos.
These mind imaging scans acquire information on mind exercise by measuring modifications in blood movement or electrical impulses. They’ll present key insights into how the mind works, each in wholesome individuals and people with mind harm or illness, researchers mentioned.
“That is the primary time anybody had utilized purposeful ultrasound imaging via a cranium alternative in an awake, behaving human performing a activity,” mentioned Dr. Charles Liu, director of the College of Southern California Neurorestoration Heart.
Researchers requested Hager to resolve a “connect-the-dots” puzzle on a pc monitor and play just a few melodies on his guitar, utilizing purposeful ultrasound imaging to trace his mind exercise.
“The flexibility to extract this sort of data noninvasively via a window is fairly vital, significantly since lots of the sufferers who require cranium restore have or will develop neurological disabilities,” Liu mentioned in a college information launch.
Researchers consider that ultrasound and CT methods utilizing such a window may present higher data than MRI or EEG scans via opaque bone or cranium replacements.
“As well as, ‘home windows’ may be surgically implanted in sufferers with intact skulls if purposeful data may also help with analysis and therapy,” Liu added. “If we are able to extract purposeful data via a affected person’s cranium implant, that might permit us to supply therapy extra safely and proactively.”
For instance, such a window may assist medical doctors observe the progress of a affected person who’s acquired an electrode implant or another sort of mind surgical procedure.
“One of many huge issues once we do these surgical procedures is {that a} blood clot can type beneath the implant, however having a transparent window offers us a simple option to monitor that,” mentioned researcher Dr. Jonathan Russin, director of cerebrovascular surgical procedure at Keck Hospital of USC.
The findings had been printed Might 29 within the journal Science Translational Drugs.
The researchers praised Hager’s open-mindedness in agreeing to the clear cranium alternative.
“Jared is an incredible man,” Liu mentioned. “His contributions have actually helped us discover new frontiers that we hope can in the end assist many different sufferers.”
Sources
- College of Southern California, information launch, Might 29, 2024
Disclaimer: Statistical information in medical articles present common tendencies and don’t pertain to people. Particular person elements can range significantly. At all times search customized medical recommendation for particular person healthcare choices.
© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted Might 2024
Extra information sources
Subscribe to our e-newsletter
No matter your subject of curiosity, subscribe to our newsletters to get the very best of Medicine.com in your inbox.
