Latest news with #LVOne
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Finger-prick blood tests which quickly detect the deadliest type of stroke could save lives
A finger-prick blood test to diagnose the deadliest form of stroke might be twice as effective at spotting it than using a patient's symptoms alone. The test, which works similarly to a lateral flow test used to detect Covid, is being piloted by ambulance crews in Cambridgeshire. The blood tests have been designed to detect if someone has suffered a large vessel occlusion (LVO), where a blood clot blocks a major artery in the brain. This type of blood clot is responsible for about a third of strokes but causes about 95 per cent of disabilities and deaths. A stroke is a very serious condition where the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off, and every minute a stroke is left untreated some 1.9 million brain cells die, increasing the risk of serious long-term disability and death, according to the Stroke Association. But speedy treatment for a stroke can dramatically increase a patient's chances of recovery. This includes a thrombectomy procedure to remove the blood clot within a few hours of any symptoms appearing. However, only 24 hospitals in the UK can provide thrombectomy treatment, and LVO is tricky to diagnose without a brain scan because it has similar symptoms to other conditions. Due to a combination of NHS pressures and workforce shortages, these timeframes are often missed and only 3.9 per cent of eligible stroke patients had a thrombectomy in 2023/24 - against NHS England's target of 10 per cent by 2027/28. In addition, only 46 per cent were admitted to a stroke unit within four hours of arriving at a hospital, which further reduces the treatment window and the patient's chances of recovery, the Stroke Association added. As a result, unless a patient is lucky enough to live near a specialist centre, in most cases they will be taken to a general hospital. From there, it can take an average of three hours to be moved to a thrombectomy centre. However, these new finger-prick blood tests help diagnose LVOs faster and get patients the treatment they need. The test, developed by the Cambridge-based firm UpFront Diagnostics, consists of two lateral flow cartridges and can detect two molecules in the blood. One is a protein called D-dimer, which is associated with blood clots, and the other, called GFAP, is associated with bleeding in the brain. The absence of GFAP helps to rule out a haemorrhagic stroke where a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds, The Guardian reported. These tests can detect LVOs with about 90 per cent accuracy within 15 minutes — which is more than double the accuracy of just checking symptoms, Gonzalo Ladreda, UpFront's chief executive officer, told the newspaper. Dr Louise Flanagan, the head of research for the Stroke Association, which helps fund the early development of the LVOne test, told The Independent: 'When the NHS is under huge pressure and its workforce is in crisis, a simple finger prick test to help diagnose stroke could be revolutionary. 'The LVOne test could potentially diagnose stroke faster and much more affordably than the only current alternative, which is a brain scan. It could also help to identify the type of stroke a person is having, which is vital to ensure the right treatment is given. 'LVOne could help make it easier to decide whether someone is having a stroke that could be treated with a thrombectomy, saving the NHS time and money and, importantly, helping more people live well after stroke.' The Stroke Association is calling for improvements in stroke care as part of the 10 Year Health Plan — to help meet the government's own target to reduce stroke disability and death by 25 per cent by 2035. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "This government is taking action to tackle the biggest killers like heart disease and strokes. "We have introduced health checks in workplaces and blood pressure checks on high streets to help catch illness earlier, and we are acting to prevent strokes in the first place by tackling smoking and obesity. "We are committed to improving stroke prevention, treatment, and recovery through our 10-Year Health Plan, which will emphasise prevention and make better use of innovative technology like prehospital video triage (PVT) as we shift the NHS from analogue to digital." There are 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, and 100,000 people have strokes every year. But 90 per cent of these are preventable, the charity said. Lifestyle factors such as obesity, smoking, alcohol intake and exercise levels can have a significant effect on a person's stroke risk.
The Independent
10-03-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Finger-prick blood tests which quickly detect the deadliest type of stroke could save lives
A finger-prick blood test to diagnose the deadliest form of stroke might be twice as effective at spotting it than using a patient's symptoms alone. The test, which works similarly to a lateral flow test used to detect Covid, is being piloted by ambulance crews in Cambridgeshire. The blood tests have been designed to detect if someone has suffered a large vessel occlusion (LVO), where a blood clot blocks a major artery in the brain. This type of blood clot is responsible for about a third of strokes but causes about 95 per cent of disabilities and deaths. A stroke is a very serious condition where the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off, and every minute a stroke is left untreated some 1.9 million brain cells die, increasing the risk of serious long-term disability and death, according to the Stroke Association. But speedy treatment for a stroke can dramatically increase a patient's chances of recovery. This includes a thrombectomy procedure to remove the blood clot within a few hours of any symptoms appearing. However, only 24 hospitals in the UK can provide thrombectomy treatment, and LVO is tricky to diagnose without a brain scan because it has similar symptoms to other conditions. Due to a combination of NHS pressures and workforce shortages, these timeframes are often missed and only 3.9 per cent of eligible stroke patients had a thrombectomy in 2023/24 - against NHS England's target of 10 per cent by 2027/28. In addition, only 46 per cent were admitted to a stroke unit within four hours of arriving at a hospital, which further reduces the treatment window and the patient's chances of recovery, the Stroke Association added. As a result, unless a patient is lucky enough to live near a specialist centre, in most cases they will be taken to a general hospital. From there, it can take an average of three hours to be moved to a thrombectomy centre. However, these new finger-prick blood tests help diagnose LVOs faster and get patients the treatment they need. The test, developed by the Cambridge-based firm UpFront Diagnostics, consists of two lateral flow cartridges and can detect two molecules in the blood. One is a protein called D-dimer, which is associated with blood clots, and the other, called GFAP, is associated with bleeding in the brain. The absence of GFAP helps to rule out a haemorrhagic stroke where a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds, The Guardian reported. These tests can detect LVOs with about 90 per cent accuracy within 15 minutes — which is more than double the accuracy of just checking symptoms, Gonzalo Ladreda, UpFront's chief executive officer, told the newspaper. Dr Louise Flanagan, the head of research for the Stroke Association, which helps fund the early development of the LVOne test, told The Independent: 'When the NHS is under huge pressure and its workforce is in crisis, a simple finger prick test to help diagnose stroke could be revolutionary. 'The LVOne test could potentially diagnose stroke faster and much more affordably than the only current alternative, which is a brain scan. It could also help to identify the type of stroke a person is having, which is vital to ensure the right treatment is given. 'LVOne could help make it easier to decide whether someone is having a stroke that could be treated with a thrombectomy, saving the NHS time and money and, importantly, helping more people live well after stroke.' The Stroke Association is calling for improvements in stroke care as part of the 10 Year Health Plan — to help meet the government's own target to reduce stroke disability and death by 25 per cent by 2035. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "This government is taking action to tackle the biggest killers like heart disease and strokes. "We have introduced health checks in workplaces and blood pressure checks on high streets to help catch illness earlier, and we are acting to prevent strokes in the first place by tackling smoking and obesity. "We are committed to improving stroke prevention, treatment, and recovery through our 10-Year Health Plan, which will emphasise prevention and make better use of innovative technology like prehospital video triage (PVT) as we shift the NHS from analogue to digital." There are 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, and 100,000 people have strokes every year. But 90 per cent of these are preventable, the charity said. Lifestyle factors such as obesity, smoking, alcohol intake and exercise levels can have a significant effect on a person's stroke risk.
The Guardian
09-03-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Speedy finger-prick tests to diagnose strokes trialled in Cambridgeshire
Ambulance crews in Cambridgeshire are piloting the use of finger-prick blood tests to diagnose the deadliest form of stroke, with preliminary data suggesting they may be up to twice as effective as relying on patients' symptoms alone. The tests, which work on a similar principle to the lateral flow tests (LFTs) used to detect Covid, are designed to rapidly identify whether someone suspected of having a stroke has suffered a large vessel occlusion (LVO), where a blood clot blocks a major artery in the brain. Although LVOs account for about a third of strokes, they are responsible for 95% of disabilities and deaths. However, a patient's chances of recovery are markedly improved if they undergo a thrombectomy procedure to manually remove the clot within hours of symptom onset. The problem is that there are only 24 hospitals in the UK that can provide thrombectomy treatment, and LVO is difficult to diagnose without a brain scan because many other conditions show similar symptoms. Unless a patient is lucky enough to live near a specialist centre, they will usually be assessed at a general hospital and then transferred. According to national audit data from 2022-23, it takes an average of three hours or more from arriving at a first hospital to arriving at a thrombectomy centre. 'Early identification of LVO strokes by ambulance clinicians could offer opportunities for fast-tracking patients to thrombectomy-capable hospitals, avoiding delays to care when taken to other non-specialist hospitals,' said Larissa Prothero, an advanced research paramedic at the East of England ambulance service NHS trust (EEAST), which is involved in the feasibility study. The test, which consists of two lateral flow cartridges, was developed by the Cambridge-based firm UpFront Diagnostics, and is designed to detect two molecules in the blood: The first is a clot-related protein called D-dimer. The second, called GFAP, is associated with bleeding in the brain; its absence helps to rule out a haemorrhagic stroke, where a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds. Earlier studies suggest that the kit can detect LVO within 15 minutes, with about 90% accuracy. This is 'more than double that of current methods used in the ambulance, which involve checking [symptoms]', said Gonzalo Ladreda, UpFront's chief executive officer. Dr Louise Flanagan, the head of research for the Stroke Association, which helps to fund the early development of the LVOne test, said: 'When it comes to diagnosing a stroke, there's a window of about four to six hours to deliver a thrombectomy or a thrombolysis [where drugs are used to dissolve the clot], but the faster the better. 'Having a rapid test that can be administered by the ambulance crew would mean that that person can get the right treatment for them quicker, which is going to save brain cells and hopefully limit the disability afterwards.' Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion EEAST is rolling out the tests to paramedics in south Cambridgeshire to assess the feasibility and safety of integrating them into real-life clinical settings. The data will be submitted to regulators to help assess their suitability for use within the UK. The Stroke Association is also sponsoring a separate trial of a saliva-based stroke test, which recently launched in the West Midlands. As well as saving lives, such tests also have the potential to save the NHS money, said Flanagan. 'There could be direct cost savings in terms of ambulance journeys and imaging. If that person is leaving hospital with fewer disabilities and fewer side-effects from that stroke, there are also going to be long-term savings in terms of rehabilitation and social care.'
