Gold Coast home to world’s first inhuman robotic brain clot retrieval ahead of Stroke Week

A 69-year-old Gold Coaster has become the first stroke patient in the world to receive life-saving treatment from a robotic arm.

A 69-year-old Gold Coaster was the first stroke patient in the world to have a large brain blood vessel clot treated with a robotic arm.

And yesterday she met the Gold Coast Health clinical team who saved her life.

The groundbreaking procedure took place at the Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) in March this year after Hata Koro suffered a significant stroke.

Within two hours of presenting to emergency, Mrs Koro was prepared for the world’s-first robotic assisted endovascular thrombectomy in GCUH’s neuro-interventional radiology suites.

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Stroke patient Hata Koro is shown the piece of tech used by Associate Professor Dr Hal Rice to save her life

Dr Hal Rice, one of eight interventionalist in Queensland, performed the procedure using the Corindus neurovascular robot; it’s currently being trialled at the hospital for treating patients with complex brain aneurisms.

“Hata presented to our suites with an acute brain clot blocking a major artery in her brain that was reducing blood supply to important areas of her brain and presented a serious risk to her health,” Associate Professor Rice said.

“The robotic arm allows precise navigation of catheters and devices within a patients’ cerebral blood vessels to successfully treat complex brain aneurisms and acute major vessel stroke.

“We were able to use the robot to safely remove Hata’s brain clot with extreme precision and ultimately make a real difference to her post-stoke recovery and final clinical outcome.”

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Associate Professor Dr Hal Rice from the Gold Coast University Hospital, who performed the procedure using the Corindus neurovascular robot.

Hata’s daughter Elda said watching her mother have a stroke was a heartbreaking experience but she was “amazed at the expediency and organisation at GCUH where they had the triage set up for stroke patients”.

“If this happened to mum somewhere else, the outcome would be quite different.” she said.

Gold Coast Health strokologist and statewide stroke clinical network’s co-chair Dr Darshan Shah said the application of the robotic arm was another significant advancement for better outcomes amid a growing number of stroke patients.

“Stroke is one of the leading causes of morbidity in Australia, and the lifetime risk of stroke has risen from one in six, to one in four and that starts at the age of 25,” Dr Shah said.

“While this exciting technology can allow us to treat patients who have experienced symptoms for up to 24 hours, it doesn’t detract from the importance of early recognition and a F.A.S.T response to the signs of stroke.”

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