New Zealand will have first use of a groundbreaking device that’s set to revolutionise concussion diagnosis for rugby players in the country.
The world’s first portable brain scanner – known as the Nurochek headset – will allow head injuries to be detected in just two minutes, delivering an objective test result based on a binary yes or no.
Former All Black Steve Devine, who says he’s taken “30 to 40 knocks” during his playing days, describes the portable brain scanner as a “game-changer”.
“I’m so excited that finally there’s a product that says yes or no, and it’s a two-minute scan that can’t be cheated, there’s no baseline test, and it takes the guesswork out [for] a student-coach, a coach, a parent-coach or even a parent.
“The professionals have a doctor on the field right next to them ... it’s the amateur game and the schoolboy game where there isn’t a doctor and the undetected concussion where someone has been knocked and goes back on the field – that second hit can be fatal.”
The former halfback had his career cut short in 2007 because of repeated head injuries.
“I’d basically wake up after my last one, and I got my first migraine ever ... I had a migraine three or four days a week for two years, and that’s in bed, lights are on, a bucket by the bed, and that was my life for two years.”
Devine says a device like the Nurochek would have been helpful during his time.
“Probably would’ve cut it [my career] a bit shorter, I would feel, but certainly there were times I was knocked out and I played on, 100%, and this certainly wouldn’t have allowed that to happen.”
The scanner has been cleared for use by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, after more than seven years of research and development.
Medtech Labs Group chief executive Michael Lee explains the headset’s capabilities.
“It’s measuring 400,000 data points in the brain’s electrical activity to determine whether you’re concussed or not concussed,” Lee says.
“It’s an innovation on traditional brain scanning technology, which is VEP [Visual Evoked Potential], which is the light stimulus at the front of the headset, then you’ve got the five nodes or sensors, which is measuring in terms of analysing brain activity, so that’s the innovation compacted into an actual portable headset.”
The brain scanners, which will cost around $3000, will be rolled out next month at healthcare providers, with talks in place with rugby clubs to use the innovation in early 2026 – in time for the rugby season.
Lee expects the device to be used in other concussion exposure environments.
“We know rugby’s a very big sport in New Zealand, but it’s any contact sport and beyond that, it’s motor vehicle accidents, it’s worksites, schools as well, but we’ll start with sports first and we’ll extend it.”
Devine is hopeful New Zealand Rugby will throw their support behind the Nurochek scanner, with talks ongoing with the governing body.
“It’s a process. They’re dotting their ‘i’s and crossing their ‘t’s as they need to do, and we’re working through the process.
“I’m really looking forward to getting this device into professional sport to be used alongside the doctor to make a decision, and even more excited about getting it into the amateur sport, where we don’t have anything right now.
“We need to get better at detecting it [concussion], and this is the perfect solution for it.”