AI Triples Stroke Recovery Rates For Patients in England
- Editor OGN Daily
- 13 hours ago
- 1 min read
Artificial Intelligence may have many downsides, but that's certainly not the case in the medical world. In England, it has tripled the proportion of stroke patients who fully recover.
There are three main types of strokes, all of which involve the interruption of blood flow to the brain but each requires different treatment. And time is crucial in all instances. When a patient arrives at a hospital, CT scans that help diagnose the type of stroke determine the care team’s next steps.
The good news is that speed is the AI’s superpower. It reads the scans and produces a “profusion map” report, which shows clinicians the areas of the brain that are receiving little to no blood - in only a minute.
This analysis reaches the entire clinical team immediately and simultaneously, streamlining a consultation process that used to progress in stages. With the team in such rapid sync, a stroke patient can begin treatment much faster - in England, a full hour faster.
In early-stage analysis of pilots run by the National Health Service, this has led to a tripling of recovery rates. Nearly half of stroke patients now recover to the point of functional independence, up from 16 percent.
And this is not the end of AI’s impact on stroke care, either. Researchers are hoping that the technology could soon make it easier to predict strokes, as well as recover from them.