A new stroke triage tool, SELFStroke, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), is now available in the UK.
Imaging innovation automatically analyzes and categorizes diagnostic brain images following a CT scan to detect signs of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in 30 seconds, compared to a 30-minute CT scan for report time manual, which is even more difficult in the middle of the night, which is often the case.
With stroke being the fourth leading cause of death in the UK, this latest technological innovation has the potential to save lives and improve long-term outcomes of neurological damage by speeding up the ‘golden hour’ of stroke diagnosis. stroke to drug treatment.
SELFStroke automates one-click diagnosis from CT scan to clinical decision, consolidating scan results into a single summary and alerting clinicians to any abnormalities. It can help a radiology team prioritize urgent patient cases, refocus valuable human resources, and expedite diagnostic reports. This, in turn, has the potential to reduce the time needed to make a clinical decision on incoming stroke cases and deliver life-saving treatment more quickly.
Dr. Peter Chang, assistant professor in residence for the departments of radiological sciences and computer science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), who worked closely with Canon Medical Systems on the development of the new tool, said :
“Although we have about 90 minutes to treat a stroke patient, up to 30 minutes of that time can be spent on imaging alone. The use of AI for stroke enables rapid interpretation within half a minute of image acquisition, facilitating rapid and robust processing and turnaround times that would be very difficult without this type of system. SELFStroke is used at UCI to automatically triage and assess every suspected stroke patient who presents to the ER – this helps us in our workflow to increase and maximize the time we have to focus and care patients.
Mark Hitchman, Managing Director of Canon Medical Systems UK, added: “The sooner stroke patients are treated, the better their outcomes, as time saved is brain gain. As part of our innovation strategy to automate clinical workflows and integrate AI into existing diagnostic imaging processes and equipment, we launched SELFStroke. This is not a concept or research stage, but a ready-to-market solution that works as a CT scanner triage software tool already in place at many UK NHS Trusts.
“This will help expedite the entire process from scanning to notification of suspected stroke cases and aims to avoid the extent of brain damage that can lead to paralysis and loss of speech. This has far-reaching implications on recovery, not only for an individual and their family, but also for the entire continuum of stroke health care from physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists.
SELFCanon Medical’s Stroke integrates a comprehensive set of stroke applications including: Non-Contrast CT Intracranial Hemorrhage which quickly locates multiple variations of intracranial hemorrhage when time is critical; CT ASPECTS without contrast providing scoring of early signs of ischemic stroke that are routinely difficult to detect; CT Occlusion of large vessels to help localize occlusions in patients with cerebral infarction; and CT Perfusion maps created using validated Bayesian CTP+ algorithms to help indicate potential penumbra and infarct core regions.
