Brain Temperature Tunnel Discovered

A tunnel from inside the brain has been found to transmit brain temperature to an area of skin near the eyes and nose, offering the potential to measure brain temperature and prevent heat stroke and hypothermia or infectious diseases.

The area near the eyes has the thinnest skin and the highest amount of light energy. It is the point of entry to the brain temperature tunnel, which connects to a thermal storage center in the brain. For the first time, this discovery will allow external continuous measurement of brain temperature, according to M. Marc Abreu, M.D., the researcher at Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA) who made the discovery.

Unlike heart rate and blood pressure, core body temperature cannot currently be measured continuously. Dr. Abreu has constructed patches and eyeglasses designed to measure brain temperature at the tunnel entry point near the eyes. Continuous monitoring of brain temperature could help prevent heat stroke in firefighters, construction workers, and athletes.

"One of the most important causes of death is hospital infection, which kills more than 100,000 patients a year in the United States,” said Dr. Abreu. "The inability to detect temperature changes in a timely fashion can lead to the spread of infection and even cause death.”




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