Pupillary Device Design For Ocular Cranial Nerve Monitoring

Abstract

Inspection of the pupillary reflex and extraocular motor function can provide invaluable information about the integrity of the cranial nerves, as well as indirectly indicate changes in intracranial pressure (ICP). In critical ICU patients and patients with severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI), monitoring these physiological mechanisms has shown that dysfunction may be proportional to the degree of injury. In the operating room, current devices for reflex pupillometry are based on 40-year-old technology, measure at irregular intervals, and require logistically difficult manipulations. In this thesis, a prototype device design is proposed that can be positioned on or nearly on-eye and provide continuous measurement of both ipsilateral and contralateral pupil responses simultaneously in real-time or near real-time while being minimally invasive. The primary application of this device is in neurosurgery, emergency medicine, and telemedicine.