Improving patient care with groundbreaking stroke treatment
Every year, nearly 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke, with health care costs exceeding $50 billion. Swift treatment can prevent deaths and disabilities, while reducing medical costs.
Nebraska researchers have developed a groundbreaking frontline treatment for strokes that can be used in emergencies and therapeutic settings. Their patented device is portable and low-cost, making it a versatile product for use in rehabilitation clinics, emergency rooms and ambulances. The size of a toolbox, the device runs on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the same type and size used in smartphones.
The pTACS Somatosensory Biomedical Device uses a non-invasive method of brain stimulation to increase blood flow to the brain. Rapidly compressed air pulses delivered through plastic tubes and pressurized capsules attached to the skin evoke repeated volleys of nerve responses, which increase blood flow to the cerebral cortex.
Previous studies have shown that somatosensory stimulation can potentially save brain cells from death, thereby preventing the devastating effects of ischemic strokes, the most prevalent type of stroke.
“We take advantage of the inherent anatomy of the human brain – the way these sensory pathways are laid out – and by placing these [pressurized capsules] on different parts of the body, we can selectively drive different parts of the brain with tremendous precision,” said project leader Steven Barlow, Corwin Moore Professor in Special Education and Communication Disorders and resident faculty in the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior.
pTACS is a more compact, portable and precise successor to the Galileo, a device Barlow and his team developed to investigate how employing micropulses of air could aid in stroke therapy.
Barlow and biomedical engineering doctoral student Jacob Greenwood share inventor status on the U.S. patent. Barlow and his colleagues arepursuing Food and Drug Administration approval.
We can selectively drive different parts of the brain with tremendous precision.
Steven Barlow
NUtech Ventures, Nebraska’s technology commercialization affiliate, is working with Barlow to create a startup to manufacture and commercialize the device.
Barlow’s team is collaborating with biomechanical researchers at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and neurologists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center to investigate pTAC’s potential to support therapies for post-stroke injury. Barlow hopes the research also could lead to updated protocols for treating speech-language functions, autism spectrum disorders and other neurological issues.
The National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, Barkley Trust and Nebraska Research fund this research.
Additional Content
Jacob Greenwood, front, and Steven Barlow