According to the latest WHO statistics, stroke is the leading cause of severe morbidity and the second overall cause of mortality worldwide. Stroke kills more than 6 million people per year. It is also a main cause for disabilities in aging population.
Stroke kills
more than
6
million people per year. It is also a main cause for disabilities in aging population.
An estimated
10.3
stroke events took place in 2013 worldwide and the number is steadily increasing [1].
Stroke remains one of the most important neurological affection. It represents one of the main leading cause of preventable death worldwide. The two main subtypes of stroke are ischemic stroke (IS) and intracerebral haemorrhage stroke (ICH).
On average, every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke.
Among them
were ischemic strokes (67%) and 3.4 million were haemorrhagic strokes.
An accurate differentiation of both subtypes is critical during the acute phase to prescribe the most suitable treatment protocol, which is specific and widely different between IS and ICH. Nowadays, stroke subtype diagnosis is mainly based on brain imaging data by computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Unfortunately, in spite of being highly sensitive, MRI and CT scans are not readily available to the patient and cannot be promptly used in primary hospital due to the lack of resources.
[1] Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics-2017 Update, A Report From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2017;135:e146–e603.
The solution
A wide-available rapid biochemical test would add advantages in the pre-hospital triage and management of stroke patients, allowing to begin time limited treatment options as reperfusion therapies (i.e. tPA treatment) at the admission or event at the ambulance and therefore improving enormously the rates of recovery of ischemic stroke patients [1].
ABCDx has identified a combination of biomarkers highly efficient to achieve a rapid, accurate diagnosis of Ischemic versus Intracranial haemorrhage in the first 4 hours from symptoms onset, offering more rapid and specific decision-making diagnosis to a much wider range of health care sites, including point-of-care in ambulances to speed-up patient treatment.
[1] Glickman et al. Discriminative capacity of biomarkers for acute stroke in the emergency department. J Emerg Med. 2011;41(3):333-9.
