Dedicated to the doctors and the patients they treat – Latest data from the ASSIST Registry and experience with BRAINOMIX

Stryker symposium at LINNC Paris 2022 “Empowering your practice beyond products”

Before a standing room only room audience, the Stryker sponsored symposium presented results from the ASSIST registry and insights into the efficacy of artificial intelligence in the pursuit of improved stroke treatment using the BRAINOMIX system.

ASSIST Registry – focus on 3 different techniques

Highlighting operator choice, Prof. Markus Möhlenbruch from the University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, presented the latest data from the ASSIST Registry whose aim is to investigate the effectiveness of different techniques in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke (AIS).

With an enrolment of 1,500 patient worldwide, the ASSIST registry completed its 90-day follow-up in April 2022, including patients with AIS and large vessel occlusions in the anterior circulation.

Patients were treated using one of 3 defined techniques:

- stent retriever classic (SR classic)

- stent retriever in combination with aspiration (SR combination)

- direct aspiration (DA)

Efforts were made to include all thrombectomy cases following one of the techniques, and a cap on the number of patients was applied to maintain uniformity and balance across the techniques and sites. All data was core lab verified.

First pass success story

Analysis of data is still underway, but the stent retriever classic technique showed a significantly higher first pass eTICI 3 results (100% reperfusion of the territory) compared to the stent retriever in combination or direct aspiration techniques. There was a trend towards early response favoring the stent retriever classic technique, which may indicate that the first pass effect may not be as important as early reperfusion.

Still, at 90 days, there was no statistical difference between outcomes in the 3 groups, with a modified Rankin scale of 0-2 in over 50% of all cases.

Stay tuned for future results.

In pursuit of better stroke care coverage - BRAINOMIX

Dr Paul Bhogal from the Royal London Hospital, London, United Kingdom illustrated his successful experience using artificial intelligence to facilitate the creation and efficient functioning of a London-based mechanical thrombectomy network.

Quick roll-out to a large population

This multicentered network, based at the Royal London Hospital, used the BRAINOMIX e-Stroke artificial intelligence decision support tool to provide patient access to MT outside their local catchment area. In 2020, they performed 93 MTs from an area comprising 1.8 million and 4 spoke hospitals.

By employing BRAINOMIX, Dr Bhogal explained how they were able to expand their service to hospitals outside their immediate London area, many of which were struggling with COVID, allowing them to evolve from using limited social media to communicate to BRAINOMIX powered consultant-consultant referrals. By using artificial intelligence, Royal London Hospital was now able to cover a population of 6.95 million in 18 spoke hospitals allowing them to perform 256 MTs in 2021 alone.

AI decision support tool

BRAINOMIX reduced the time taken to make the decision to transfer, far faster than other image transfer and assessment methods. These advantages were illustrated by the case of a stroke patient whose images, reviewed on the BRAINOMIX app, enabled quick, accurate assessment of his large vessel occlusion stroke. A helicopter transfer meant that the patient was treated and recovering before his family could even arrive at the London hospital – 100 miles from where they lived.

The BRAIN network has now processed 33,000 cases, making it the largest stroke AI network in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, if just 4 additional MTs are performed using BRAINOMIX, the system becomes cost saving, and of course, achieves a better patient outcome.

Stryker – at your service

Providing quality devices and ensuring their constant evolution is only one part of the story. Through registries such as ASSIST, through programs using BRAINOMIX, Stryker joins you in highlighting technique, increasing our understanding of treatment choices, and working together with you to roll-out of stroke services in an accessible and economically responsible way that benefits both individual patients and the societies they live in.