A wearable brain scanner can track brain activity as people move around Traditional imaging scans require people to remain still The helmet could help research diseases that cause involuntary movement FRIDAY, Aug. 9, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A wearable brain scanner could improve research into , dementia and other debilitating disorders, new research shows. The brain scanner -- called the Ambulatory Motion-enabling PET (AMPET) -- fits on a person’s head much like a construction worker’s hard hat, the researchers explained.
“What we like about the AMPET is that it moves with the head, and you can be in a real environment where you’re immersed and walk with it on,” said senior study author , a research assistant professor with the West Virginia University Department of Neuroscience. PET scans track the movement of injectable radioactive tracers through the body, allowing doctors to observe how organs function in real time. Unfortunately, traditional PET scanners require patients to lie still for imaging, researchers noted.
That hampers the scan’s usefulness in diseases like Parkinson’s, which causes involuntary and uncontrollable spasms in patients, Brefczynski-Lewis said. “This makes it difficult or impossible to test these patients when their symptoms become too severe, since regular brain imagers require staying very still,” Brefczynski-Lewis said in a university news release. “Also, if you want to study human behaviors like walking, anxiety-provoking tas.