Methodology of Clinical Tests for Assessment of Cerebral Autoregulation after Traumatic Head Injury

Summary

Various methods exist for assessment of autoregulation of Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF). They incorporate different modalities: arterial blood pressure, intracranial pressure, blood flow velocity, cerebral perfusion pressure, and brain tissue oxygenation (1).

Dynamical tests of cerebral autoregulation include time series analysis, analysis of models based on transfer function, wavelet decomposition, non-linear decomposition, etc.

Project aims

The aim of the project is to compare various methodologies, various modalities and compare them from the point of view of clinical utility in a group of head injured patients.

Strong emphasis will be put on feasibility studies of new and existing methodologies at the bedside: such as a concept of ‘optimal’ Cerebral Perfusion Pressure or individualized threshold of intracranial pressure. Also links between brain physics modalities and electrophysiology and biochemistry will be of interest.

References

1. Czosnyka M et al. Neurocrit Care. 2009;10(3):373-86.

2. Aries MJ et al. Crit Care Med. 2012; 40(8):2456-63.

3. Lazaridis C et al. J Neurosurg. 2014 Apr;120(4):893-900.

Contact details

Dr Peter Smielewski - ps10011@cam.ac.uk

Opportunities

This project is open to applicants who want to do a:

• PhD
• MPhil

Project is ideal for a person having medical or biological background with strong practical computer skills.