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Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | October 21, 2024
Rapid treatment is critical for minimizing brain damage from stroke, but it’s imperative to first determine if the stroke is hemorrhagic or ischemic. While this is typically done using an MR or CT scan, new research suggests microwaves may offer key advantages for bringing dramatically faster and more affordable diagnosis to one of the world’s most devastating medical emergencies.
Unlike conventional imaging modalities, the novel 3D-printed system devised by researchers at NYU Langone could weigh about as much as a carry-on bag of luggage, uses less power than a cellphone, and requires no specialized training to operate. It does almost all the work itself, leveraging microwaves and a dedicated set of computational algorithms intended to identify the presence and location of a potential stroke, and generating anatomically realistic MR-like reconstructions of the brain.
HCB News spoke to Dr. Leeor Alon and Dr. Seena Dehkharghani, the co-inventors of the new system. They describe the technology’s inspiration, contrast it with existing tools, and explain why they believe it represents a “new class of imaging and diagnostic instruments” poised to democratize healthcare.
Here is our conversation, lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Dr. Leeor Alon (L) and Dr. Seena Dehkharghani (Credit: Pawel Slabiak, NYU Langone Health)
HCB News: Before we get into the technology, why did you and your team set your sights on stroke diagnosis?
Drs. Dehkharghani and Alon: Stroke remains a leading cause of death and disability, with one in four people affected in their lifetime, and disproportionately affects low-income countries and the economically disadvantaged. The resulting economic burden is enormous, with 34% of global total healthcare expenditure attributed to stroke. In the U.S. alone, almost 800,000 individuals are affected every year, and the associated costs are greater than $56 billion.
There are plenty of neurologic disorders that can be serious or even fatal, but none among them carry such rigid guidelines and strict timelines for clinical management and time-to-treatment. Keeping in mind that strokes can relate either to sudden bleeding within the brain (hemorrhagic stroke) or to energetic failure most often resulting from insufficient blood flow beyond a clot (ischemic stroke), treatment planning for a stroke patient generally begins with definitive exclusion of bleeding.