NeuroLogica puts portable CT in boxing’s corner

A portable CT scanner built by NeuroLogica will be one door away from the dressing rooms of Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. when the two middleweights duke it out May 5 at the MGM hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The dedicated head scanner will scan either or both, if physicians attending the boxers see any signs of neurological damage.

The company is providing its compact CereTom CT free as a demonstration of its potential in sports, particularly boxing, according to Eric Bailey, Ph.D., CEO and president of NeuroLogica.

"It is good for the sport, which has suffered criticism for injuries and deaths that have occurred, and it is good, obviously, for the fighters," Bailey told DI SCAN. "You can imagine if you were one of these prestigious boxers. But my heart goes out to the boxers who nobody knows."

The CereTom CT will be on station not only for the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight but for the eight or so bouts preceding it and the half dozen fights the night before. Physicians attending the fighters these two nights will be watchful for signs of injury, ready to prescribe a CT scan, if necessary.

Images will be read immediately by a neuroradiologist who will look for signs of internal or external hemorrhaging to the brain, damage to brain matter due to a sudden backwards snap of the head after a punch, or damage to the blood vessels that feed the brain.

Bailey described as a passion his drive to get his company's portable CT as close as possible to where injuries might occur. NeuroLogica is promoting the use of CereTom in ambulances and on the battlefield, where "America's real warriors fight," he said. Its presence at the MGM next weekend is another aspect of this crusade, one to which Bailey, an amateur fighter in his youth, feels a personal connection.

CereTom's inclusion as part of what may bring the biggest financial windfall of any fight in history grew not from discussions with De La Hoya's camp but with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. NeuroLogica is not charging for the use of its scanner because Bailey sees the company's involvement in this fight as an opportunity to prove CereTom's value not only to boxers, but to other athletes as well.

"My hope is that this will open the door to its use in other sports that can lead to potentially serious head injuries, such as hockey and rugby," he said.