A MONITOR TO ASSESS NEUROLOGICAL HEALTH IN NEONATES

许多研究的新生儿与各种条件支持脑电图作为一个良好的预后指标的结果。然而，专业新生儿脑电图的可用性非常有限，仅在该国相对较少的专业儿科中心提供。此外，EEG的长期监测可以提供新生儿最准确的预后，但现在很少用于临床实践，因为需要相当大的努力来审查长期数据。该第一阶段项目将专注于开发准确可靠的信号处理方法，专门用于分析和表征新生儿的背景EEG。我们的目标是开发一个自动分类的背景新生儿脑电图，将同意由临床专家作出的评估。最终的目标是开发一种低成本，易于使用的监测器，可以提供长期的连续评估的新生儿背景脑电图。这样的监测器可以很好地衡量治疗的成功，表明治疗后神经系统的改善或下降。此外，它可能会影响护理决策的水平，特别是对于那些治疗效果不佳的新生儿（例如：严重的神经功能缺损或死亡）。拟议的商业应用：新生儿EEG神经评估监测器具有很大的商业潜力。全球主要医疗市场约有13，000张新生儿ICU床位。每年以每台约1万美元的价格向该市场的1%销售显示器，年收入将达到180万美元。

Many studies of neonates with a variety of conditions support EEG as a good prognostic indicator of outcome. However, the availability of expert neonatal EEG is very limited, available only at a relatively few specialized pediatric centers in the country. In addition, long-term monitoring of the EEG, which can provide the most accurate prognosis in neonates, is rarely used in clinical practice now because of the considerable effort required to review long-term data. This Phase I project will focus on the development of accurate and reliable signal processing methods specific for analyzing and characterizing the background EEG in neonates. The objective is to develop an automated classifier of the background neonatal EEG that will agree with assessments made by clinical experts. The eventual goal is the development of a low-cost, easy-to-use monitor that can provide long-term continuous assessments of the neonatal background EEG. Such a monitor could be a good measure of treatment success, indicating neurological improvement or decline after treatment has been given. Also, it could impact level of care decisions, especially for those neonates given poor prognoses (e.g.: severe neurological deficits, or death). PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: There is a large commercial potential for an EEG neurological assessment monitor for neonates. There are approximately 13,000 neonatal ICU beds in major medical markets worldwide. Selling monitors to just 1% of that market per year at approximately $10,000 per unit would yield annual revenues of $1.8 million.