Published in The Portsmouth Herald, visit them at www.seacoastonline.com
by Matthew Tetrault
DANVERS, Mass. - "It seemed like it was only a small injury. You really wouldn’t notice it," said Hampton resident Eric Bailey.
That injury was one of the catalysts for creating NeuroLogica, a medical scanning company co-founded by Bailey two years ago.
The company’s main product, CereTom, is a portable CT scanner, or CAT scan, designed to help doctors detect head trauma. The scanner recently won the Medical Design for Excellence Award.
Back in 1990, Bailey’s brother died from his supposedly small injury, which he suffered in a car accident in northern New Hampshire. Unknown to doctors at the time, his brother had suffered severe head trauma resulting in a blood clot in the brain.
It’s the type of injury that is all but impossible to detect without images of the brain. These images are usually provided by a CT scanner, a giant torpedo tube on steroids that uses X-rays to produce a computerized image.
CT scans give medical personnel an accurate view of the brain, so they can better detect brain trauma.Courtesy photo
The hospital where Bailey’s brother was treated didn’t have a CT scanner.
"Without this type of imaging, these doctors are blind," said Bailey. "They can’t do anything."
Typical CT scanners have several limitations. They’re massive, weighing as much as 10,000 pounds and require both a climate controlled area and specialized technicians to function.
CT scanners are also expensive. Some cost as much as $1.5 million.
CereTom however, is designed around portability and low cost. The scanner weighs about 740 pounds, making it light enough to be placed on wheels and pushed to intensive care units and operating rooms. Wireless technology, a battery power supply and new cooling systems also help make the scanner more portable and easier to use.
NeuroLogica is selling CereTom for around $250,000.
The company, which employs 40 workers, expects to sell about 100 CereTom scanners this year and several institutions have already purchased units including Massachusetts General, UCLA Medical Center and the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass.
Eric Bailey, co-founder of NeuroLogica, says the company's portable CAT scanner will help save lives by detecting brain injuries that are impossible to see without a CT scan.. Courtesy photo
NeuroLogica plans to ship a unit to the U.S. Navy to test CereTom’s potential in Iraq and Afghanistan as a medical tool on the battlefield. According to Bailey, 90 percent of the deaths from injuries on the battlefield are the result of injuries to the neck and head.
Before starting NeuroLogica, Bailey, a graduate of The Citadel military school, served in the Air Force and also gained private sector experience in CT imaging in the medical and security fields.
CereTom’s creation wasn’t without its set of challenges. When NeuroLogica sought grant money from the state of Massachusetts for the project, they said that it was impossible and that their type of scanner could never be built.
"I’m constantly told what we can’t do, but that’s what turns me on," said Bailey. "I can’t work on engineering stuff that anyone can do, I want to make an impact."
Bailey is talking with doctors on the Seacoast about the scanner’s potential.
"I really would like to see it used in my hometown," he said.
NeuroLogica plans to expand its product line. Scanner technology for ambulances is being researched. NeuroLogica is also working on a portable brain scanner designed to monitor brain functions. The technology could some day help doctors find and treat brain disorders like Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s and epilepsy.
Bailey views his work as a his way to make a difference.
"I need to be emotionally involved with it and I can’t be more emotionally involved with a product than I am now," he said. "That’s what drives me."
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