A noninvasive, hand-held, electrically-powered device intended to be used to scan a patient’s head for the detection of an intracranial (e.g., epidural, subdural and intracerebral) haematoma, using near-infrared (NIR) technology. It consists of a control unit which emits an infrared laser, measures reflection with an optical detector, and displays processed results. Typically, the recorded patient data from the scan can be downloaded from the device for further assessment by a medical professional.