Long-term continuous monitoring of the preterm brain with diffuse optical tomography and electroencephalography: a technical note on cap manufacturing

Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) has recently proved useful for detecting whole-brain oxygenation changes in preterm and term newborns' brains. The data recording phase in prior explorations was limited up to a maximum of a couple of hours, a time dictated by the need to minimize skin damage caused by the protracted contact with optode holders and interference with concomitant clinical/nursing procedures. In an attempt to extend the data recording phase, we developed a new custom-made cap for multimodal DOT and electroencephalography acquisitions for the neonatal population. The cap was tested on a preterm neonate (28 weeks gestation) for a 7-day continuous monitoring period. The cap was well tolerated by the neonate, who did not suffer any evident discomfort and/or skin damage. Montage and data acquisition using our cap was operated by an attending nurse with no difficulty. DOT data quality was remarkable, with an average of 92% of reliable channels, characterized by the clear presence of the heartbeat in most of them.