CVAid is a mobile telestroke solution that enables neurologists to remotely assess patients for suspected stroke.
The unique technology utilises video and audio recorded on a smartphone to inform treatment decisions before the patient has even reached the hospital.
Oren Dror co-founded CVAid with Perflow Medical CEO Danny Farin in 2018.
“My background is consulting for Israeli health companies, such as SHL Telemedicine. I also helped set up Healthcare Israel within the Ministry of Health” Dror tells Stroke Rehab Times.
“So my cardiac telemedicine background combined with Danny’s stroke development experience with Perflow meant we understood the huge potential for stroke analysis. The problem is so well-known.”
Diagnosing patients in the very early stages of stroke is a huge challenge, Dror explains. The technology available today can help triage patients who are suspected of stroke and transferred for imaging.
But any delay to treatment can be devastating. As the saying goes, time is brain.
“The longer the delay to treatment, the greater the chance of disability or mortality. So our aim is to reduce the time to treatment.
“We want to be able to triage and diagnose the patient and various stages of stroke way before the patient goes through the imaging.”
A first responder to a suspected stroke records a video and/or audio clip of the patient. This data is then uploaded to CVAid’s servers where its algorithm compares it with that patient’s records.
The information is automatically analysed and sent through to a neurologist to review and justify the triage decision.
“Our proprietary algorithms analyse micro-movements and expressions on the face by quantifying those measurements on a frame level.
“We can deploy this huge amount of data into machine learning, then classify between LVO (Large Vessel Occlusion), non-LVO and the non-stroke patient.”
Muscle weakness can make it difficult for stroke patients to speak. CVAid’s audio recordings can analyse changes in voice parameters, providing further diagnostic information.
“We have had to overcome so many processing challenges to create a platform that we can use in real life. At the end, we need to extract only the parts that are really interesting.
“It could just be two seconds out of a five minute video. How do we squeeze out that information without having a human interface? I think we have done well to meet this challenge.”
Oren Dror (Seated Right) with CVAid founders Credit:Shani Nahmias – Studio Koteret
The platform also has a rehabilitation element, which enables patients to be monitored at home beyond the acute phase.
Community rehab is focused on functional rehabilitation. Therapists, friends and family may again miss those barely perceptible changes in muscle movement.
CVAid enables doctors and therapists to track their patient’s progress and be vigilant to signs of a recurrent stroke.
“In the US, around 20 per cent of all cases are previous stroke patients. So having an application that communicates directly between volunteers and the hospital upon a second recurring case will bring value and great benefit to the patient.”
CVaid has conducted clinical trials in Israel and Europe involving more than 300 patients.
The system has proven to be around 90 per cent accurate in detecting stroke and its severity, the company said last month.
In February, CVAid announced that it had raised $4million in a Series A funding round, with investment from Philips and Sanara Capital.
The funds will allow CVAid to move forward with a combined EU/US trial to validate the safety and efficacy of the system to triage stroke patients.
The large, multicentre trial would bring CVAid one step closer to FDA and EU approval.
“I truly believe in the venture. Once we have the evidence that our product works and is safe, we will change healthcare.”
