Thursday, November 18, 2010

New Technology Allows Medical Workers to Better Assess Brain Injuries

alphabet blocksScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2010) — A Queen's University neuroscientist is launching a medical tool at the world's largest neuroscience conference in San Diego on Nov. 15. The KINARM Assessment Station will greatly improve the way healthcare workers assess patients suffering from brain injuries and disease.

The new technology, invented by Stephen Scott, is the only objective tool for assessing brain function, and clinical researchers need this tool to develop better therapies for treating brain injury or disease.

KINARM combines a chair with robotic 'arms' and a virtual/augmented reality system that enables neuroscience and rehabilitation researchers to guide their patient through a series of standardized tasks, such as hitting balls with virtual paddles. Once the tests are completed, the system instantly generates a detailed report, pinpointing variations from normal behaviour.

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