Oakland Raiders to use Portable Brain Scanner

The Cushing Daily Citizen

DANVERS, Mass. — The National Football League's Oakland Raiders will be using a portable brain scanner this season that was developed by a Danvers company to quickly diagnose head injuries.

NeuroLogica Corp.'s cordless CT scanner, called CereTom, can generate high-quality images of an injured player's neck and head within minutes of his leaving the field. The technology will help expose previously undetected brain injuries and prevent athletes from continuing to play with a concussion, said Eric Bailey, inventor of the device and president and chief executive officer of NeuroLogica.

The debilitating effects of multiple concussions was highlighted recently by the well-publicized struggles of former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson. Johnson, who retired in 2005 after a decadelong career, experienced depression, memory loss, fatigue and ringing in his ears, among other symptoms, as a result of post-concussion syndrome.

"There's sort of been an awakening to not only the concussive-type injuries but also the long-term effects of brain damage," Bailey said.

The Raiders and two other NFL teams will likely use NeuroLogica's scanner this year on a trial basis.

"If it goes well, (the NFL) will probably put it leaguewide," Bailey said.

The CereTom is 29 inches long, about 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. It weighs about 750 pounds. Unlike standard CT scanners, which are stationary and weigh up to 5 tons, the CereTom can be pushed on wheels by one person.

It can run on batteries or be plugged into a wall socket. The machine uses the same amount of electricity it takes to power a toaster, Bailey said.

At Raiders home games, the CereTom will be in the locker room. It will be able to produce images of a player's brain within 15 seconds. Those images will be transmitted, via wireless Internet, to an Oakland hospital for a doctor to review.

"Doctors will be able to look at those pictures and decide what needs to be done right there," Bailey said.