Patients who have had a stroke could receive potentially life-saving treatment more quickly thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) technology at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT).
The technology, called e-Stroke, is UK-designed software. It analyses images of the brain and blood vessels. It automatically flags blockages to clinicians to help guide treatment decisions.
e-Stroke also allows ESNEFT’s stroke teams to share these scans securely 24/7 with colleagues at specialist centres, such as The Royal London Hospital. This helps them to quickly gain a second opinion, to support fast diagnosis and treatment.
This will ensure that patients who need a minimally invasive procedure called thrombectomy can be transferred as quickly as possible. Thrombectomy is removal of a clot, and its is only carried out at specialist sites. Quick transfer for thrombectomy will increase their chance of a good recovery. This is particularly important as the stroke clinical pathway is highly time sensitive. For every 15 minutes of delayed treatment, stroke survivors may lose a month of healthy life.
e-Stroke has been developed by Oxford-based company Brainomix. It is already in place at more than 60 NHS trusts across the UK with over 65,000 patients scanned. Colchester and Ipswich hospitals are the latest centres in the east of England to introduce the software, thanks to a grant from NHSX.
Dr Sajid Alam, stroke consultant at Ipswich Hospital, said: “We are delighted to have this cutting-edge technology at ESNEFT. It will give our clinicians 24/7 access to an expert second opinion. We can ensure our patients receive potentially life-saving treatment as quickly as possible, in turn improving their outcomes and chance of making a good recovery.”
Dr Ramachandran Sivakumar, who leads the stroke service in Colchester, added: “Speed is vital in the treatment of strokes and a thrombectomy should be carried out as early as possible to increase the patient’s chances of a good outcome. Introducing this software will allow our clinicians to work closely with regional colleagues to review scans promptly, in turn ensuring patients receive the best possible care.”
Consultant radiologist Dr Nagendra Thayur, said: “By allowing us to share images quickly and efficiently, e-Stroke will help ensure that appropriate patients who need time-sensitive thrombectomies can be rapidly transferred to a specialist centre for the procedure.”
Over 100,000 strokes take place in the UK each year, which is about one every five minutes. The treatment which patients receive will depend on the cause of the stroke and when it took place.
Riaz Rahman, VP Healthcare Global with Brainomix, said: “Working with the teams from Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals has been a delight. The entire end to end process of installing the AI technology was successfully completed in a matter of weeks. This means the real work of optimising the referral pathway for those patients eligible for life-saving treatment can begin in earnest.
“The clinical teams from ESNEFT have truly embraced the idea that more timely clinical information will help to optimise their own clinical expertise and knowledge to deliver the best patient care. As a UK headquartered company, we are proud to collaborate with the NHS and plans are already in motion with ESNEFT to support stroke clinical research.”
Edwin Heisterkamp, Territory Healthcare Manage with Brainomix, added: “It was a real pleasure to work with the key domain leads to get e-Stroke installed in record time for both hospitals.
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