A blood test for the soil to diagnose the most deadly form of stroke may be twice as effective when it is noticeable than to use the patient’s symptoms only.
The test, which works similar to a side -flow test used to detect Covid, is piloted by the ambulance crews in Cambridge.
Blood tests are designed to find out if someone has suffered a major obstruction of the vessel (LVO), where a blood clot blocks the main artery in the brain.
This type of blood clot is responsible for about one third of the strokes, but causes about 95 percent of the disabilities and death.
Stroke is a very serious condition in which the blood supply to a part of your brain is cut off and every minute of stroke remains untouched about 1.9 million brain cells die, increasing the risk of seriously long -term damage and death, according to the stroke association.
Stroke is a very serious condition in which the blood supply to a part of your brain is cut off (Kirsty O’Connor/Pa Wire)
But rapid stroke treatment can drastically increase the patient’s chances of recovery. This includes a blood clot removal procedure within a few hours after the onset of symptoms.
However, only 24 hospitals in the UK can provide treatment for thrombectomy, and LVO is difficult to diagnose without brain scanning as there are similar symptoms of other conditions.
Due to a combination of NHS pressure and labor shortages, these terms are often missed and only 3.9 percent of the patients who are eligible had a thrombectomy in 2023/24 – against the target of NHS England from 10 percent to 2027/28.
In addition, only 46 percent were admitted to a stroke unit within four hours of arriving in a hospital, which further reduces the treatment window and the patient’s chances of recovery, added the stroke association.
As a result, unless the patient is not lucky enough to live close to a specialized center, in most cases they will be taken to a common hospital. From there, it can take an average of three hours to be moved to the Trombectomy Center. However, these new blood tests on the finger of the finger help to diagnose LVOS faster and get the patients they need.
The test, developed by Cambridge -based company Apufront Diagnostics, consists of two lateral flow cartridges and can detect two molecules in the blood.
New tests work similar to lateral flow tests used to detect Covid (PA Archive)
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 exclude a hemorrhagic stroke in which a blood vessel is torn and bleeding, Guardian Reported.
These tests can detect LVO by about 90 percent accuracy within 15 minutes – which is more than twice as big as the accuracy of simply a symptom check, Gonzalo Lader, CEO of AupFront, told the newspaper.
Dr. Louise Flanagagan, Head of Research at the Stroke Association, which helps to finance the early development of the LVone test, told Independent: “When NHS is under enormous pressure and its workforce is in crisis, a simple finger test to help diagnose stroke, it can be revolutionary.
“The Lvone test can potentially diagnose a stroke faster and much more affordable than the only current alternative that is a brain scanning. This can also help identify the type of stroke that a person has, which is vital to ensure that proper treatment is given.
“Lvone can help make it easier for someone to have a stroke that can be treated with thrombectomy, saving time and money on NHS and, which is important, to help more people live well after a stroke.”
The Stroke Association calls for an improvement in stroke care as part of the 10 -year health plan – to help achieve the government’s own goal of reducing disability and death by 25 percent to 2035.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Social Care said: “This government is taking action to deal with the largest killers such as heart disease and strokes.
“We have introduced health inspections of jobs and blood pressure checks on the high streets to help catch diseases earlier and act to prevent strokes in the first place by dealing with smoking and obesity.
“We are committed to improving the prevention of stroke, treatment and recovery through our 10-year health plan, which will emphasize prevention and use better innovative technology such as Prehospital Video Triage (PVT) as we transfer NHS from analogue to digital.”
There are 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK and 100,000 people have a stroke every year. But 90 percent of them are preventable, the charity said. Lifestyle factors such as obesity, smoking, alcohol intake and exercise levels can have a significant impact on the risk of stroke per person.