Detecting Infant Meningitis with Ultrasound

Jun-08-15 A new ultrasound method for diagnosing bacterial meningitis could eliminate spinal taps—and the trauma that often accompanies them.

Diagnosing bacterial meningitis in small children often requires several lumbar punctures in order to draw a proper cerebral fluid sample—a process that is difficult on both the patient and the staff. As an alternative, a team of researchers from the UK and Spain have created a device that is placed over fontanelle (the soft area in a newborn’s skull that stays open for 12 months). Using ultrasound, the device scans the cerebral fluid to obtain an image that is then analyzed by an algorithm to determine the presence of cells that indicate meningitis.

The ultrasound device could have particular applications in developing nations, where the cases of infant bacterial meningitis are quite high.

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