Dr Ujwal Chaudhary on non-invasive Near Infrared Spectroscopy for locked in patients

Published: June 10, 2018, 6:48 p.m.

University of Tübingen postdoc, Ujwal Chaudhary, and I talk about some of his techniques to unlock patients who are locked in. Those who are paralyzed and cannot move their hands or eyes can have a small non-invasive Near Infrared device placed on their head to be able to decipher binary yes and no answers. The technique measures the level of blood oxygenation in the brain which can signify what a patient might be thinking. With this technology, they are able to be correct about 70% of the time. The technology is essentially an fMRI which is much more portable and less costly.