Time saved is brain saved. For those who suffer strokes, reaching the hospital and getting assessed within the first ‘golden hour’ is critical to their chances of survival, and avoiding brain damage.
Funding from the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation allowed Professor Ken Butcher and his team to provide state of the art diagnostic data for acute stroke patients in real time. The team installed hardware and software required to analyse CT Perfusion (brain blood flow images) data and provide meaningful output to clinicians.
Sharing these images and the critical computed values about a patients’ stroke with the entire clinical team in real time allows the team to make the best decisions for stroke patients rapidly. The images help address questions such as is this a real stroke? Should this patient receive ‘clot busting’ therapy and lastly, should this patient have an endovascular clot retrieval procedure?
The funding also covers storage and analysis of the data for future research aimed at better treatment strategies and ultimately help more patients in the future. The first project showed excellent results obtained in clinical trials.
With 50,000 people suffering from strokes every year, Professor Ken Butchers developments will provide hope to many.
