Images capture the brain’s slip into unconsciousness
JUN 14, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.025388
BBC : A new imaging method can detect the electrical activity in the brain in the moments after anesthesia is administered, writes Jennifer Carpenter for the BBC. The new technique, called functional electrical impedance tomography, is more compact than other imaging techniques and is easily transported to the operating room. Tens of electrodes attached to the patient’s head send low electrical currents through his or her skull; the currents are impeded by the brain’s tissues and electrical signals. As anesthesia begins to take effect, different parts of the brain seem to be communicating, possibly inhibiting one another to produce unconsciousness. The technique could be used to monitor brain activity after a stroke or head injury and could give insight into the nature of consciousness in general.
© 2011 American Institute of Physics
