In the United States and across the Western world, we often talk about the dangers of heart attacks and cancer. What we don’t often mention are strokes—the third biggest killer in the Western hemisphere. Due to the brain’s complex nature, strokes are an everyday feature of life that isn’t as well understood as heart problems or cancers. A stroke happens when the blood supply to the brain is disrupted by a blood vessel blocking or bursting—cutting off that source of blood to the brain.
In an ongoing study from the UK, a new device called the SMARTChip is showing promise as a stroke diagnosis tool for patients. When someone comes into the emergency room with stroke-like symptoms, it can be difficult to know whether they’re suffering from a stroke, have a migraine, or might just be intoxicated. Correct treatment and allocation of resources are necessary to save stroke patients.
The Creation of the SMARTchip
Scottish neuroscientist Nicholas Dale started his quest in 1998 when he needed to invent a biosensor to measure adenosine—and realized he could use to it measure other things. It wasn’t until 2004 that Sarissa’s biosensors (initially Sarissaprobe) were available for commercial sales, and while they showed potential in clinical diagnosis, they didn’t work in blood, which was essential.
In 2013, Dale successfully pitched his idea to Invention for Innovation, a committee at the National Institute for Health Research—and three years later they began clinical trials in multiple hospitals using Sarissa’s new chip. While the SMARTchip’s performance has taken a while to get exactly right, it’s now at the point where the three-year trial will end in April 2017.
The Future
Dale believes the technology will be used in ambulances, as a key part of a paramedic’s toolkit, helping to diagnose stroke patients. In the future, the SMARTchip would be in defibrillator boxes to inform emergency services of patients’ conditions.
The future of stroke diagnosis and identifying causes is bright—as technology develops and rollout of new devices comes to hospitals and other healthcare providers.
