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Cheap Blood Clot Detection Device
Gearoid_Murphy writes "The BBC details the news of a cheap handheld device to detect blood clots on the surface of the brain. The device uses infrared light to penetrate 3 cm into the body; light that has passed through clotted blood changes detectably. A doctor who is testing the device in India said, 'We found a 98% accuracy for showing blood clots or haematomas.'"
To put statistics into perspective, you need to consider the following (for arguments sake).
Say 98% lived with this new tech. What percentage lived without it ? Maybe 94%. You can't infer that the previous methods of detection/avoidance were mediocre just because the new method has a high success rate. The article certainly gives no comparisons.
"I am not bound to please thee with my answers" [William Shakespeare]
Although the CT Scan would be useful, you need to remember. Your friend has a brain tumor. They operate, and remove it successfully, and close the opening. At this point, you wait, and pray that there's no clotting. Perhaps if this probe could be attached (I don't see why not), for a night after surgery, if clotting starts, the surgeon could get a much faster start on the patient, rather than waiting for "symptoms" to occur. A CT Scan can be useful in determining a problem, but the constant monitoring is useful for a separate scenario.