Dutch health technology company Royal Philips has announced that its direct-to-angio stroke pathway has shown significant cost savings and improved patient outcomes in a study.
Published in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery (JNIS), the health economic analysis demonstrated that Philips’ approach to the stroke care pathway lowered costs by an average of around $3,120 per patient.
The retrospective analysis studied data from the controlled, single-centre ANGIOCAT clinical trial. The study was conducted by the investigators at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital Stroke Unit, Barcelona, Spain.
According to Philips, earlier results from the same study revealed that the direct-to-angio suite (DTAS) pathway enhances outcomes for stroke patients.
University Hospital Vall d’Hebro Stroke and interventional neurologist Manuel Requena said: “The ANGIOCAT clinical study has already shown that bringing stroke patients directly to the angio suite improves patient outcomes. The economic analysis of the data now tells us we can also significantly reduce costs.
“This indicates that the initial up-front investment of a direct-to-angio suite workflow will result in a fast return on investment for healthcare providers.”
Philips said that cone-beam CT imaging, which the company built into its Azurion image-guided therapy system, enables clinicians to diagnose patients quickly and take immediate action, thus saving more time.
The Dutch firm further stated that the health economics research indicated that a specialised angio suite can provide a positive return on investment within a few years.
The firm’s DTAS workflow is driven by an advanced cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) brain scan which is carried out directly in the angio suite for diagnosing patients.
CBCT is said to use a cone-shaped X-rays beam and a flat-panel detector placed on a C-arm gantry. It captures multiple images from different angles to reconstruct the brain’s 3D images.
Additionally, the health technology firm added that the technology can rule out intracranial haemorrhages and detect large vessel occlusions (LVOs).
Furthermore, multiple single-centre studies have shown the positive impact of Philips’ stroke treatment pathway. The Dutch company also said that it has an ongoing large multi-centre randomised WE-TRUST clinical trial to confirm patient benefits of DTAS.
