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,” said Matt Kesinger, CEO of FDI. “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.”