Medical professionals have always dreamt of mapping the activities of the human brain in real time –- 'touching' instead of looking. Of course, modern brain scanners, such as MRI, already offer sophisticated and passive views into the human brain. But now, IST Results reports that a young Finnish company, Nexstim, has developed a non-invasive brain scanning and stimulation system called navigated brain stimulation (NBS). This system "guides the precise delivery of targeted transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pulses to discrete brain areas." It is today the only device available for accurate prediction of the TMS stimulus location and dose within the human brain and is already in use in 20 hospitals and brain research centers worldwide. But read more...
Here are more details from IST Results.
Nexstim develops and manufactures a patented, non-invasive brain scanning and stimulation system called navigated brain stimulation (NBS). NBS involves using short magnetic field pulses to stimulate precisely defined points in the cerebral cortex and then measure how a specific site or the whole cortex reacts with a high definition electroencephalogram. Impaired responses caused by disease or injury can then be detected by the equipment.
The company believes that [its eXimia NBS system] is the only equipment that can accurately show the location of stimulation within the brain. Consequently, a user can determine precisely the dose and location of each stimulus required for each patient. In the near future, NBS is expected to become a major diagnostic and therapeutic tool in hospitals.
Below is a rendering showing a patient using the system (Credit: Nexstim).
And here is a real patient using the NBS system (Credit: Nexstim).
On its web site, Nexstim describes some of the benefits of its NBS system: it is fast to set-up (ready to use in 15 minutes), is easy to use and gives complete reports in minutes. Here are more details from the company.
The safe and non-invasive mapping using eXimia NBS can support neurologists and neurosurgeons to diagnoze and treat the human brain diseases, trauma, and dysfunctions.
NBS allows one to measure the functionality (index of health) of selected areas the human brain. This vital information is not available with any other noninvasive method and may help physicians in their diagnosis.
And as you can see on this map, Nexstim has already NBS installations worldwide, in Europe, USA and Asia.
If you need more information, you can read two other documents from Nexstim about Navigated Brain Stimulation: this brochure (PDF format, 2 pages), from which the top image of this post has been extracted, or this presentation (PDF format, 44 pages, 2.53 MB), which contains many more details and illustrations.
Sources: IST Results, June 30, 2006; and Nexstim web site
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