Development of simultaneous electroencephalography and near-infrared optical topography for applications to neurovascular coupling and neonatal seizures

摘要

This thesis describes the development and preliminary application ofudmethods for performing simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) andudnear-infrared (NIR) imaging of the brain. The simultaneous application ofudEEG and NIR imaging has many benefits because of the complementaryudnature of the two modalities, and has significant potential in the study of theudrelationship between neuronal activity and cerebral haemodynamics.udThis work goes beyond previous experiments which have combined EEGudand limited-channel near-infrared spectroscopy by designing andudimplementing an arrangement which allows dense near-infrared opticaludtopography and EEG to be performed over the same cortical area, with asudsimple an application method as possible. These application methods areuddescribed in detail, as is their extensive testing using novel dual-modalityudphantoms and an in-vivo EEG-NIR imaging experiment in a healthy adult.udThese methods are subsequently applied to the study of neonates in theudclinical environment. An intricate EEG-NIR imaging experiment isuddesigned and implemented in an investigation of functional activation in theudhealthy neonatal visual cortex. This series of experiments also acts as audfurther test of the suitability of our EEG-NIR imaging methods for clinicaludapplication. The results of these experiments are presented.udThe EEG-NIR imaging arrangement is then applied to four neurologicallyuddamaged infants in the neonatal intensive care unit, each of whom had beenuddiagnosed with seizures. The results of these studies are presented, and audpotentially significant haemodynamic feature, which is not present in agematchedudcontrols, is identified. The importance and physiologicaludimplications of our findings are discussed, as is the suitability of a combinedudEEG and NIR imaging approach to the study and monitoring of neonataludbrain injury.