Portable Transcranial Doppler Tech Assesses Early Strokes with High Accuracy

Neural Analytics Inc., a medical device company developing and commercializing technology to measure, diagnose and track brain health, today announced initial results of the EXPEDITE clinical study showing its Transcranial Doppler Technology Platform under research, was more than 95 percent accurate for the early detection of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) due to large vessel occlusion (LVO). The data were presented at the 26th annual European Stroke Conference, taking place from May 24-26 in Berlin.
 
 “Current standard of care for stroke diagnosis can be expensive and time consuming, underscoring a significant unmet need for an improved method for first responders and ER physicians to rapidly and accurately assess and triage patients for appropriate clinical intervention,” said Thomas Devlin, M.D., Ph.D., principal study investigator and medical director of Erlanger Health System’s Southeast Regional Stroke Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “These results show Neural Analytics’ portable diagnostic platform has the potential to fundamentally change how we detect stroke, and could lead to significantly improved patient outcomes as patients are more rapidly triaged for treatment.”
 
The EXPEDITE study, conducted at Erlanger Health System, examined the effectiveness of Neural Analytics’ transcranial Doppler (TCD) platform in assessing patients for stroke.
 
The research study evaluated 45 subjects either experiencing computed tomography angiography (CTA) confirmed Acute Ischemic Stroke due to Large Vessel Occlusion of the internal carotid artery (ICA) or middle cerebral artery (MCA) or matched healthy controls. TCD scans were recorded in 30 second intervals across multiple depths for each brain hemisphere while patients awaited treatment. Data were analyzed using two different stroke assessment algorithms. A Stroke Asymmetry Index (SAI) which compared depth matched bilateral scans and a Stroke Waveform Morphology Index (SMI) which used an algorithm to asses Doppler waveform morphology changes. Both methods were 96 percent accurate for assessing large vessel occlusion.
 
“We are encouraged by these study results, demonstrating that under research our novel TCD platform may prove to bridge the significant gap in current stroke detection and management,” said Dr. Robert Hamilton, chief scientific officer of Neural Analytics. “Today, fewer than 10 percent of eligible stroke patients are treated surgically due to the lack of a portable diagnostic device for early detection which would enable earlier stroke diagnoses for first responders and ER physicians.”^1-3
 
Neural Analytics also announced the expansion of the EXPEDITE study, projected to enroll 140 patients, to Baptist Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.
 
Globally each year severe blood flow disorders affect more than 30 million people. Traumatic Brain Injury and stroke contribute the most to the global disease burden for these disorders. Stroke is the second most common cause of death in Europe and about 1.1 million die of stroke in Europe each year.¹ Globally stroke affects about 16 million people and kills an estimated 5.7 million, with an annual U.S. healthcare cost of $104 billion.^2-5 There are 14.8 million people affected by Traumatic Brain Injury globally each year, with 2.5 million in the United States.
 
References
¹ European Society of Cardiology Website. European Cardiovascular Disease Statistics 2012 Edition (page 10).
² Ganesalingam, J. Cost Utility Analysis of Mechanical Thrombectomy Using Stent Retrievers in Acute Ischemic Stroke. Stroke. 2015 Sep;46(9):2591-8. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.115.009396. Epub 2015 Aug 6.
³ Ovbiagele, B. et. Al Forecasting the Future of Stroke in the United States. Stroke. 2013.
⁴ Saver, J. et. Al. Stent Retriever Thrombectomy after Intraveneous t-PA vs. t_PA alone in stroke. N Engl J Med 2015; 372:2285-2295.
⁵ Age Ageing (2009) 38 (1): 4-5.doi: 10.1093/ageing/afn282