The NHS has equipped all 107 stroke centres in England with an artificial intelligence scanning system that is helping half of all stroke patients achieve a full recovery. The technology, which analyses brain CT scans in under a minute, has tripled the rate of patients avoiding serious disability from 16% to 48% in pilot schemes.
The AI software identifies the type and severity of stroke and recommends the most appropriate treatment, reducing the average time from arrival to treatment from 140 minutes to 79 minutes. This rapid intervention is critical, as a patient loses around two million brain cells per minute at the onset of a stroke.
David Hargroves, NHS national clinical director for stroke, said: 'This AI decision support technology is revolutionising how we help people who have been affected by a stroke. It provides real-time interpretation of patients’ brain scans – supporting expert doctors and other NHS staff to make faster treatment decisions.'
The announcement was made at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Madrid, where a separate study also highlighted the risk of traffic noise. Research on 26,723 Danish men found that a 14.9 dB increase in traffic noise raised stroke risk by 12.4%, independent of air pollution. Dr Stephan Mayntz noted that chronic noise disrupts sleep and activates stress pathways, advising people to seal windows or move to quieter rooms.
