UK digital health firms join together on stroke care platform

A partnership between two UK digital health companies – Brainomix and Visionable – aims to overcome bottlenecks that hold up the care of patients in the critical time period following a stroke.

The alliance focuses on the combination of Brainomix’ artificial intelligence-based e-Stroke software, used to improve diagnosis and treatment of people with suspected stroke from medical images, with Visionable’s clinical collaboration platform, used to coordinate care of patients from front-line emergency responders through to specialist clinicians in hospital.

The two systems have already been trialled together at Ipswich Hospital in Norfolk, UK and, according to the two partners, are “saving time, reducing workload, and supporting improved outcomes, which aligns with the UK national strategy to drive integration and efficiency for better care.”

e-Stroke is already deployed in hundreds of hospitals across the UK, other countries in Europe and Asia, as well as the US. It provides real-time interpretation of brain scans to specialist and non-specialist clinicians, in order to guide treatment and transfer decisions for stroke patients, allowing more patients to get the right treatment at the right time.

A study presented at the World Stroke Congress last year showed that implementation of e-Stroke reduced door-in-door-out (DIDO) times by more than an hour and tripled the number of stroke patients achieving functional independence.

“As a district general hospital, we don’t have ready access to dedicated neuroradiologists to interpret every stroke scan,” commented Dr Sajid Alam, stroke consultant at Ipswich Hospital. “Having the AI software gives us more confidence when interpreting each scan.”

Patients admitted to Ipswich Hospital who are eligible for mechanical thrombectomy are transferred to the Royal London Hospital (RLH) in Whitechapel that serves as a hub for the procedure serving Ipswich and a number of other stroke units across the southeast of England.

Dr Alam added: “In stroke, time is critical. Using e-Stroke saves precious minutes, as the scans are immediately available for viewing on the Brainomix web portal. With RLH also using e-Stroke, we can communicate instantly, share images, and make transfer decisions without delay.”

Recent performance metrics indicate that Ipswich Hospital is outperforming national benchmarks on the proportion of patients being assessed by a stroke consultant within 24 hours, at around 90% vs 83%.