February 21, 2022
Reducing delays in endovascular treatment is key
“Time is brain” is a well-known sentence when talking about large vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes, but according to a recent study1 on large vessel ischemic stroke patients: “time is also money.”
Currently, 20% of LVOs are initially undetected2 and half of the patients are treated too late to reach functional independence3: showing how much more can be done – in terms of the healthcare system – for the acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients’ treatment.
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How do stroke AI algorithms help with patient treatment?
Generally used to confirm a clot blocking blood flow to the brain tissue, in this field neuroimaging can give much more thanks to stroke AI algorithms.
Since helping hospitals minimize this percentage and streamline the workflow to reduce door-to-groin puncture time is Nicolab’s mission, it’s extremely rewarding to read a paper, with robust numbers, that quantifies how even one minute saved can impact a patient’s life.
Published in January 2021 in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, and built on MR CLEAN Registry, the study aimed to “quantify the value of faster EVT in terms of health and healthcare” through a 5-year simulation with a Markov model.
1 minute faster EVT results in €309 healthcare cost savings and 1.3 days of disability-free life
€300 cost savings per minute with faster endovascular treatment
The researchers found out that a faster endovascular treatment (EVT) is, indeed, beneficial for both patients and hospitals.
Administer EVT one minute faster, results in:
- €309 (on average) of overall healthcare cost savings per patient;
- 1.3 days of disability-free life for a stroke patient.
Those numbers for an hour faster treatment (in the Netherlands) translate to:
- €18,540 (on average) of overall healthcare cost savings per patient;
- 80 days of disability-free life for a stroke patient.
In this way, the hospital could save a consistent amount of money, prioritizing – as always – the patient’s health.
More patients eligible for EVT with StrokeViewer
Thanks to Nicolab’s highly sensitive and accurate LVO triaging algorithm – able to detect even the most distal clots – StrokeViewer can help physicians identify more patients eligible for endovascular treatment and, therefore, improve patients’ outcomes and save costs for a hospital.
