Siemens is working with German researchers to save time on stroke diagnosis and treatment by combining MRI and angiography.

Amanda Pedersen

There's no shortage of evidence supporting the notion that time is brain when it comes to stroke treatment, and yet separate imaging examinations using different devices continues to be the standard of care for stroke. This is valuable time that stroke patients do not have, according to Siemens Healthineers, which is working with a team of German researchers to combine MRI and angiography to improve the time between stroke symptom onset and treatment. Every minute that is wasted transferring patients from one imaging suite to another represents about 2 million neurons destroyed, according to the company.

Arnd Dörfler, head of the Department of Neuroradiology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, and Andreas Maier, head of the Pattern Recognition Lab at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), will lead the research efforts to develop a hybrid device that combines the imaging technologies to help stroke patients receive quicker diagnosis and treatment. The project, Predictive Prevention and Personalized Interventional Stroke Therapy (P3 Stroke), will be funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology for Health.

"The pioneering system enables an exact picture of the development of the condition to be obtained without delay, allowing for effective treatment," Dörfler said.

Dörfler's department will lead the clinical evaluation of the new methods while Maier's lab is tasked with developing the software.

"We have been conducting research in various areas of medical imaging for many years and can therefore contribute a considerable amount of expertise," Maier said.

In addition to benefiting stroke victims, the new system is also expected to have applications in minimally invasive treatment for other neuro- and cardiovascular disorders, and in oncology.

Amanda Pedersen is Qmed's news editor. Reach her at [email protected]

[image courtesy of PIXABAY]