SCRA’s team developed software to analyze magnetic resonance images of each person which adjusts a generic map of the brain to the individual and pinpoint the intended target within 2 millimeters.

Through a multi-site National Institute of Health grant, four universities led by the Medical University of South Carolina are evaluating a focused magnetic stimulation technique to treat depression in people who have not responded to drug or electro-convulsive therapy. To be effective, the stimulator must be targeted at a spot on the surface of the brain with virtually no room for error. Each person’s brain varies somewhat in size, shape, and orientation and as a result, the location to be stimulated changes from person to person. It is impossible to accurately locate the region manually.

In support of this project, SCRA supports the network, storage, and computing systems dedicated to taking the daily stream of hundreds of megabytes of images from all of the participating institutions, automatically analyzing the brains, and determining the precise stimulation point and power required.

“SCRA has helped us come down out of the Ivory Tower, and partner with industry in order to translate theory into practice. Breaking down barriers, rolling up our sleeves and launching new projects is truly the mode of the future.”

Mark George, M.D.
Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Radiology, and Neurology
Director, Center forAdvanced Imaging Research
Medical University of South Carolina

Schizophrenia Treatment Innovation - Real-time Image Processing and Brain Stimulation

SCRA is helping to tie together image processing and brain stimulation into a real-time system that allows patients with Schizophrenia to receive brain stimulation treatments while in an MRI scanner. The SCRA – MUSC team has developed the capability to image individuals with Schizophrenia, and immediately process those images to locate an appropriate target for stimulation. The coordinates are fed to a device that positions the stimulator at the selected scalp location and then simultaneously stimulates and collect images that show how the brain is reacting to the stimulation.

The key is speed. Those with Schizophrenia may be anxious in the MRI scanner. Finding the target and positioning the stimulator must be done in a minute or two. Pipelining the image analysis and positioning software to take images quickly from the scanner and returning coordinates makes the difference between multiple visits to the hospital versus one combined analysis and treatment session.

Assuring Astronauts Can Walk After Long Duration Weightlessness

SCRA has been studying the effects of lengthy periods of weightlessness on the human brain. Funded by NASA, this mulit-year project has been measuring the degree to which the brain changes and potentially loses control of leg muscles during extended space flight. The work has been expanded to evaluate a brain stimulation technique to act as a countermeasure for this debilitating effect. This pilot project, being conducted at MUSC, is now being considered for inclusion in long-term flight analog research at NASA as a tool to ensure that astronauts who journey to Mars will be able to walk when they arrive.

Using SCRA’s Computing Power to Understand the Human Brain

Research Services leverages SCRA’s computing resources and staff to analyze vast quantities of neuroimages and physiologic data. MRI scanners and continuously sampling sensors of neuromuscular activity generate terabytes of data. Analyzing this data to locate minute variations that indicate which sections of the brain are active or are communicating with particular muscle groups is a Herculean task requiring enormous storage, CPU time and network bandwidth. SCRA’s infrastructure and hosting of large servers dedicated to these tasks allows researchers to evaluate their data in hours rather than months.

A person who is lying in an MRI scanner can relax knowing the SCRA hosted systems are locating researcher selected regions of their brain to be stimulated with millimeter precision in seconds ensuring focused, accurate treatment in a short timeframe – a task that was previously unachievable.

DoD-funded Research on Detecting Deception through MR Imaging

MRI systems detect which regions of the brain are activated. This technology can be used as an effective indicator that an individual is deceptive.

The traditional Polygraph test for determining if a person’s responses to questions are truthful has come under harsh criticism in recent years as inaccurate or capable of being fooled. By using an MRI scanner during questioning, the brain’s response to the act of deception can be understood and identified. Rather than relying on an emotional response to a question, which might occur regardless of the truth of the answer, the MRI system can see whether regions of the brain which are activated when an individual is deceptive are utilized or not.

National security uses of this type of technology require rapid analysis of the results rather than months of protracted statistical data processing. SCRA provides computing, data management, tools and techniques to analyze this data in a timeframe required to take action based on information provided by individuals and determined to be truthful.

Protecting Eyesight of Diabetic Patients

SCRA's affiliate Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) has demonstrated telehealth technology to detect when a diabetic is threatened with diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of adult-onset blindness. Hundreds of patients at Community Health Centers in rural South Carolina have been screened using a camera that takes a digital image of the retina. The image is transmitted to an ophthalmologist who makes a diagnosis that is sent back to the health center. A standards-based interface extracts data from a Community Health Center patient registry and populates either Electronic Health Records or a medical management system.

Giving Providers Rapid Access to Patient Data

Every day more than a million Americans are traveling in this country, or abroad, where healthcare providers have no access to their medical files. There is no standard way to apply information technology to create, store, transmit and receive patient information. The Department of Health and Human Services has asked a team, led by the American National Standards Institute and including SCRA affiliate, ATI, to develop new and adapt existing standards to enable exchange of patient healthcare information by digital means. For example, if a tourist collapses while climbing the Eiffel Tower, the emergency room staff in Paris will know about his prior treatment by the cardiovascular surgeon in Kansas City when he arrives in the ambulance.

Secretary Leavitt (U.S. Health and Human Services) has stated his intention to recognize Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) standards as required when relevant for use by federal agencies in all efforts that entail exchange of health information.