A non invasive wearable sensor for the measurement of brain temperature

As the thermoregulation centres are deep in the brain, the cerebral temperature is one of the most important markers of fever, circadian rhythms physical and mental activities. However due to a lack of accessibility, the brain temperature is not easily measured. The axillary, buccal, tympanic and rectal temperatures do not reflect exactly the cerebral temperature. Nevertheless the rectal temperature is used as probably the most reliable indicator of the core body temperature. The brain temperature can be measured using NMR spectroscopy, microwave radiometry, near infrared spectroscopy, ultra-sound thermometry. However none of those methods are amenable to long term ambulatory use outside of the laboratory or of the hospital during normal daily activities, sport, etc. The brain core temperature "BCT" sensor, developed by the Biomedical Microsensors dpt of LPM at INSA-Lyon is a flexible active sensor using "zero-heat-flow" principle. The sensor has been used for experimental measurement: brain temperature during mental activity, and in hospital for the study of circadian rhythms. The results are in agreement with the measurement by the rectal probe. There are 2 versions of this sensor: a non ambulatory for the use in hospitals, and an ambulatory version using teletransmission. We are working for improving the autonomy of the ambulatory version up to several days. This wearable biomedical sensor (WBS) can be used for circadian assessment for chronobiology studies and in medical therapies.