Diagnostic Imaging + Digital Innovations = Healthier Futures
Summary
How measuring brain activity non-invasively is changing lives.
Read time: 4 minutes
The brain is the most complex of all known living structures and we still know very little about it, but Ricoh is working to change that.
Thanks to technology breakthroughs in diagnostic imaging, more sophisticated data gathering and analysis, and innovative thinking, Ricoh is leveraging our experience in managing data to help enable a better understanding of brain function and treatment, leading to better patient outcomes.
Neurological disorders are one of the greatest challenges in healthcare today. While we have seen many advances in diagnostic imaging that allow us to map the living brain, constant innovation is enabling us to understand and address neurological disorders more fully.
One example of said innovation—and an area that has become an important part of the Ricoh portfolio—is MEG, a helpful abbreviation for magnetoencephalography, a non-invasive technique for measuring human brain activity.
MEG uses sensors to measure the weak magnetic fields generated by neurons in the brain; it is the only modality that provides for near real-time understanding of the brain’s biomagnetic fields. To date, it has been primarily used to determine what causes epileptic seizures and where they occur.
Recent advances in MEG technology have led to extraordinarily precise neurological diagnoses. Specialists can now use MEG data, along with structural MRI information, to create a dipole, which very specifically maps the part of the brain that triggers seizures – typically a 2-3 millimeter area.
With mapping this accurate, it is now possible for functional neurosurgeons to remove or resect the targeted area without causing a neuro-deficit. This represents a remarkable advancement in medicine as it offers a potentially far better outcome for many patients when the seizures cannot be controlled with pharmaceutical drugs.
"The brain is the most complex of all known living structures and we still know very little about it, but Ricoh is working to change that."
Scott Abelson
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