Patients who have had a stroke could receive potentially life-saving treatment more quickly thanks to the introduction of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT).
Called e-Stroke, the UK-designed software analyses images of the brain and blood vessels and automatically flags blockages to clinicians to help guide treatment decisions.
The technology also allows ESNEFT’s stroke teams to securely and instantaneously share these scans 24/7 with colleagues at specialist centres, such as The Royal London Hospital, to gain a second opinion to support fast diagnosis and treatment.
This will ensure that patients who need a minimally invasive procedure called thrombectomy, which is used to remove a clot and is only carried out at specialist sites, can be transferred as quickly as possible, in turn increasing 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 and 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 from the east of England to introduce the software, which has been made possible thanks to a grant from NHSX.
Dr Sajid Alam, stroke consultant at Ipswich Hospital, said: “We are delighted to have introduced this cutting-edge technology at ESNEFT. It will give our clinicians 24/7 access to an expert second opinion so that 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, who worked closely with clinicians across both sites to introduce the software, 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.”
More than 100,000 strokes take place in the UK each year, which is the equivalent of 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, meaning 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 available instantly at their fingertips 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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