Cutting-edge baby brain scan technology is world first

A three-year study involving high risk infants, named Fast UltraSound Imaging with Optics in the Newborn (fUSiON), is due start at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) with the help of a new device.

A specialised cap fitted with multiple light sensors detects changes in blood oxygenation on the surface of the brain – a technology known as high density diffuse optical tomography or HD-DOT. It is similar to the widely-used devices put on a baby’s toe post-birth to monitor oxygen levels.

The cap also includes functional ultrasound (fUS), which captures data at a very high frequency for enabling images of small blood vessels deep in the brain to be generated.

Each technique is good at detecting activity in different parts of the brain: HD-DOT works well in superficial areas, whilst fUS is good for visualising deeper structures. The project aims for the first time to combine both technologies to obtain whole brain activity measurements at the cot-side. The ability to measure whole brain function at the cot-side will represent a major step forward in the ability of clinicians to identify those infants at risk of problems in a timely manner. This will potentially enable more targeted therapies to be started at an early stage for optimising neurodevelopmental outcomes.

The study, all performed with parental consent, is being led by a team at CUH’s neoLAB, which is based in the Evelyn Perinatal Imaging Centre at the Rosie Maternity Hospital, which sits alongside Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

The work is partly funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral European Fellowship under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation awarded to Dr Flora Faure in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge.

The NIHR HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in Brain Injury is also supporting the project by funding an additional PhD studentship, as well as wider technical, clinical and implementation expertise.

Professor Topun Austin is a Consultant Neonatologist and Director of the Evelyn Perinatal Imaging Centre. He is also the Life Course Theme Lead for the Brain Injury HRC, exploring brain treatments at the extremes of life – young and old.

He explains: “We have spent 12 months successfully proving the concept with the help of healthy and premature babies, and will now move on to the second phase, which focuses on those babies considered to be at higher risk of brain damage.

“Understanding and looking at brain activity patterns in both term and preterm infants can help us identify infants most vulnerable to injury at an early stage.”

Brain Injury HRC Co-Director, Consultant Academic Neurosurgeon Dr Alexis Joannides, adds: “We are delighted to support this innovative work, bringing together the excellent track record of the neoLAB team with the expertise and cutting-edge technologies of our collaborators in London and Paris.

“The neonatal cap has potential to transform the way we diagnose, monitor and understand brain injury in newborn babies. If successful, it could offer a cost-effective imaging tool for routine use in hospitals across the UK and beyond.”

The Cambridge team is working in partnership with the DOT-HUB research group at University College London and and Gowerlabs, developers of the LUMO wearable HD-DOT system.

Experts from the Physics for Medicine group based at the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, Paris, are pioneers in the field of functional ultrasound. The group’s Dr Charlie Demené says: “We are pleased to contribute our considerable expertise and experience and to be part of this international collaboration.”