App could be the key to stop Australians dying from strokes

A cutting edge new app will “revolutionise” the way doctors treat and save Aussies from strokes. Here’s how it will work.

An Australian company has developed life-changing technology that helps keep stroke patients alive by allowing doctors to diagnose victims sooner.

StrokeViewer is the “game changer” breakthrough from Australian health tech company Nicolab that uses state-of-the-art AI technology and algorithms to identify salvageable brain tissue.

Doctors can now more quickly diagnose stroke victims using CT scans, saving critical minutes, which can keep more people alive from a condition that strikes an Australian every 19 minutes – killing at least 9,000 annually.

The app also connects medical teams to each other so they can quickly access the same level of information, more easily confer, and make informed decisions to plan for treatment.

StrokeViewer is also accessible from any location and allows doctors to diagnose patients without having to be in the same room as the patient.

Nicolab board member Dr Bronwyn King said StrokeViewer hoped to “revolutionise emergency healthcare for stroke patients”.

StrokeViewer

“When you have a stroke, it attacks up to almost two million brain cells per minute. That’s scary, but it really does mean time is so important. We often say when talking about strokes that time is brain – every minute matters,” Dr King said.

StrokeViewer pinpoints the exact location of a stroke and the exact type of stroke.

“It means doctors can make their diagnosis more quickly and more accurately, and they can get patients to the right treatment much faster. And what that means is that more brain cells can be saved than ever before, because the tech enables us to identify brain that once was thought lost, but in fact can still can be saved,” she said.

The StrokeViewer in action. Supplied

That means fewer Australians will die and fewer are left with ongoing impacts of stroke – something half a million Australians are living with.

“If we can improve those statistics, we can have a really big improvement on the health and well being of Australians,” Dr King said.

“I think this is a game changer,” she said.

Nicolab is in discussions with hospitals around Australia to roll out StrokeViewer and hopes it will soon be used around the world.

Stroke survivor Jamie Fitzcarlos had a stroke in 2018 when she was just 34. She was working from home and on the phone to a colleague when it struck.

“I was extremely lucky that my husband had come home from work a bit beforehand and was out working in the garden, he came in about 10 minutes [after the collapse],” Ms Fitzcarlos said.

Jamie Fitzcarlos has recovered from a stroke she suffered when she was 34. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

StrokeViewer would offer regional Australian stroke victims a greater shot at survival, she said.

“Many people live regionally or the people who live in regional areas and who might not have access to some of the fast hospital services that we do have in the cities. So absolutely that fast detection is absolutely key.

“Any developments in technology, particularly in areas of healthcare, is definitely a huge bonus – when you see where technology is going and how it is able to help causes like this,” she said.

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Originally published as App could be the key to stop Australians dying from strokes