A Boston company developing a non-invasive way to detect dangerous brain swelling after traumatic brain injury has received $5.5 million in federal funding from the NIH Blueprint MedTech Program and Department of War’s Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program.

This new non-invasive technology, CranioSense, uses a forehead patch and clip-on sensors to detect elevated pressure without surgery and could transform TBI emergency care. Currently, measuring intracranial pressure – which if elevated can cause brain damage, coma, or death – requires drilling into the skull. This limits testing of brain swelling to only the most critical patients, meaning only approximately 2% of TBI patients ever have their brain pressure measured.

A retired U.S. Army Special Operations Command consultant called the new technology “a ‘Holy Grail’ of prolonged casualty care” that addresses “one of the biggest gaps in monitoring critical casualties.”

The December 2025 grants will support device development and validation ahead of FDA approval. If cleared, the system could make brain pressure assessment “as routine as blood pressure measurement” in emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at accident scenes – catching dangerous swelling early when intervention can save lives.