NUH doctors tap Al to assess stroke patients in under 1 min

RapidAl triage tool helps team to make swift decision on most suitable treatment

- Hana Chen

Doctors at the National University Hospital (NUH) are using an artificial intelligence (AI) triage tool to identify stroke patients in less than a minute and give them timely treatment, shaving minutes off the medical response to an emergency which could lead to severe disability, or even death.

The RapidAI tool expedites the process of identifying an acute ischaemic stroke, where a major blood vessel in the patient's brain is blocked by a clot, depriving the brain of oxygen and nutrients. This leads to the death of brain tissue.

Endovascular treatment, which "unblocks" the vessel and restores oxygen flow to brain tissue, is a highly time-sensitive treatment. Administering it to the patient as soon as possible is crucial for the best possible outcome.

Dr Leonard Yeo, senior consultant in the Division of Neurology at NUH'S Department of Medicine, said: "With each minute of delay in opening a blocked artery, the patient could lose 19 million brain cells, hence time is brain. The earlier we unblock the artery, the better the patient outcome."

Acute ischaemic stroke is the biggest cause of disability in Singapore and across the world. Before the use of AI, the process of identifying such stroke victims could take up to 20 minutes.

NUH started using RapidAI in February 2023 on suspected stroke patients at the hospital's emergency department. Patients do not need to pay extra for its use.