Crainio
Non-invasive intracranial pressure measurement
Crainio enables the non invasive measurement of intracranial pressure (ICP) – the pressure inside the skull. Knowledge of this is important for clinicians diagnosing and treating Traumatic Brain Injury. Currently the direct measurement of ICP is through the insertion of a pressure sensor into the brain – a highly invasive procedure. Crainio shines low power infra red light at the scalp and picks up the pulse signals returned from the brain. Machine learning algorithms then take features of the measured pulse signal and convert these into an ICP estimate. This is performed continuously, in real time, and non invasively.
Company Focus
Non invasive intracranial pressure measurement
Traumatic Brain Injury is a leading cause of death and disability – it is the number one cause of death in young adults in Europe. A total of 2.5 million people suffer a TBI in Europe each year with 75,000 people dying as a result. The key physiological indicator of TBI is intracranial pressure – ICP. Currently the diagnosis of the severity of TBI is impaired through the lack readily available ICP measurement. This is because the current direct and reliable measurement of ICP is through a highly invasive and expensive procedure involving the insertion of a pressure sensor into the patient’s brain.
Company Status
Conducting clinical studies: market release in 2027
A measurement probe has been developed, an algorithm derived, and an early clinical feasibility study conducted demonstrating good levels of accuracy. We are currently undertaking a clinical study at several major London hospitals that will improve this to standard of care levels of accuracy. We will reach hardware design freeze by the end of 2025 and will conduct a clinical validation study in 2026. The product will be on the market in the UK and EU in 2027 and in the US in 2028.
Crainio sets out to revolutionise how we measure ICP by developing a non-invasive, inexpensive measurement instrument that uses a simple probe attached to the patient’s forehead. Since our skull and tissue are translucent to light of certain frequencies, it’s possible to use photoplethysmography (PPG) to pick up pulse signals of the brain by shining low-power infrared light at the scalp. Crainio then picks up minute reflections from the surface of the brain. The information in this signal, processed with trained machine learning algorithms, tells us the pressure in the brain, whether it is rising and so the severity of any brain injury. This will ensure that patients with TBI receive the correct treatment without the need for the current invasive probes.
