Brain damage in newly-born babies is sometimes caused by the child being starved of oxygen during birth, but if the situation can be diagnosed quickly then the likelihood of permanent damage can be significantly reduced.
Researchers at University College London are developing a new device which may help give immediate information about oxygen supply using harmless laser light.
The system was described at a session of the British Association meeting at Cardiff University which concluded yesterday. The device uses rapid pulses of laser light directed at the baby's brain where a good oxygen supply is critical, explained Dr Jeremy Hebden of UCL.
Serious handicap affects 2 per cent of all new-borns and a twentieth of these are caused by "birth asphyxia", he said. There are devices that can check for brain oxygen levels but these are not well suited for use with new-borns. His device, however, is particularly suited to them because the laser light passes easily and harmlessly through the baby's skull and no radiation is involved.
The device uses a series of 32 fibre optic cables mounted into a ring that can fit over the baby's head. It sends pulses lasting no more than a millionmillionth of a second through each fibre, one after the next, and it records the scattered light passing through the brain.
This information is passed on to a computer which can convert the raw data into useful information about blood oxygen levels in various areas of the brain. This allows the doctors to assess oxygen supply to individual parts of the brain and quickly tells them if there are problems.
The system is designed for infants but could provide an imaging system suitable for other applications including mammograms that do not require the use of radiation, Dr Hebden suggested. It is undergoing calibration and the first clinical tests should begin next year.
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