Medical technology pioneer Forest Devices, Inc. (FDI) today announced the publication of positive results from the EDGAR study of its AlphaStroke™ technology in identifying patients with large vessel occlusive (LVO) strokes in emergency departments in the American Heart Association Journal, STROKE. LVOs are the type of ischemic stroke that require an interventional thrombectomy, only available at highly specialized hospitals, and every minute of treatment delay increases the risk of death and permanent disability.
The study showed that, compared to the clinical exams currently used by medics in the field to make triage decisions, AlphaStroke was 28% - 40% superior at correctly identifying patients with LVO, and equally good as the clinical exams, at correctly ruling out patients with non-LVO diagnoses.
The results from the EDGAR study are a high-water mark in the global effort to improve early identification of patients needing thrombectomy. As a former EMT on ambulances, I experienced the challenge of correctly identifying stroke patients with only a few clinical exam questions. The EDGAR study is the first study, in which a portable technology, designed specifically for LVO identification, has been shown to outperform clinical exams currently applied by EMT’s worldwide.”
Matt Kesinger, CEO, FDI
“The EDGAR study shows AlphaStroke™ has the potential to dramatically improve the detection of large vessel occlusion stroke in the prehospital environment,” said Dr. Paulina Sergot, lead author of the study and Emergency Medicine physician at Memorial Hermann hospital in Houston, Texas, one of the hospitals participating in the EDGAR study.
This technology will be a game-changer in the prehospital. Easy, fast, and more accurate than clinical impression for the diagnosis of LVO, using AlphaStroke™ on ambulances will mean more stroke victims getting to the right hospital as soon as possible. Time is brain, and fast treatment is the only thing that can prevent death or permanent disability from stroke.”
Dr. Frank Peacock, Senior Study Author, Vice Chair for Research of Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
FDI’s diagnostic platform, AlphaStroke™, is designed to support prehospital healthcare providers in identifying stroke.
Forest Devices, Inc. is a medical device company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Calgary, Alberta that has developed AlphaStroke, the first prehospital stroke detection technology. The company strives to reduce functional disability from stroke by eliminating delays in stroke treatment.
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