BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.
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CERETOM-EQUIPPED MOBILE STROKE UNIT TO BE FEATURED AT WORLD’S LARGEST GATHERING OF EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS
New Technology Enables Faster Treatment for Stroke Patients
More than 7,500 emergency physicians will see the CereTom® CT (computed tomography) mobile stroke unit (MSU) in action at this year’s American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Scientific Assembly taking place in Boston from October 26 - 29. The MSU on display at ACEP15 was co-developed by Stryker, Frazer and Samsung NeuroLogica.
A trending topic at this year’s ACEP meeting, stroke continues to be a leading cause of death in the United States. A mobile stroke unit (MSU) is a specialized emergency medical vehicle that can help diagnose stroke in patients, as well as identify ischemic vs. hemorrhagic strokes. The CereTom CT scanner is a critical element of the process. For many stroke patients, time is critical for administering treatment that can prevent or minimize brain injury, and MSU teams can act on diagnostic tests right there in the vehicle. Last year the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School debuted the nation’s first MSU, in partnership with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, CHI St. Luke's Hospital and Houston Methodist Hospital. There are currently four active mobile stroke unit programs in the US, and interest is growing from both academic and non-academic medical centers.
“It typically takes roughly an hour once a stroke patient arrives in the emergency room to receive treatment. With the mobile stroke unit, we can actually put the emergency room in the ambulance, take the CT scanner to the patient and treat at the scene with the medication, saving that hour,” said James C. Grotta, M.D., director of a multi-institutional consortium of participating partners in the UTHealth Mobile Stroke Unit. “And, that hour could mean saving 120 million brain cells.”
The CereTom is an 8-slice, portable CT scanner that delivers high-quality scans in a variety of patient locations. Its combination of rapid scan time, easy-to-use interface and immediate image viewing make CereTom an indispensable tool for any clinician needing real-time, high-quality images. It is optimized for use in a variety of settings including the MSU, ICU, NICU, emergency department and in patient rooms. For stroke patients, the CereTom-based MSU has proven to reduce time-to-treatment for patients,i as well as hospital length of stay.ii
Stroke kills nearly 130,000 Americans each year, accounting for one of every 20 deaths, or one person every four minutes. Of the approximate 800,000 Americans that have a stroke annually, about 87% are ischemic.iii Thankfully, ischemic strokes can be treated with a tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a drug that—if administered within three hours of the first signs of stroke—has the potential to dissolve the clot to improve blood flow back in the affected part of the brain. It has become the standard of care for ischemic stroke.
“There is a tremendous amount of pressure on emergency physicians to deliver quick and effective care for patients, especially when it comes to ischemic stroke,” said Philip Sullivan, Samsung NeuroLogica president and CEO. “When given tools like the CereTom CT, we see the innovation and advancements like those at UTHealth, paving the way to establishing a new standard of care.”
Stroke-treatment educational sessions on the ACEP15 program include: CT angiography (CTA), CT perfusion (CTP) and MR scanning for stroke evaluation (MO-19); legal risk of stroke cases (MO-54); practical considerations for administering tPA for ischemic stroke (TU-79); stroke care for runners on road race days (TU-102); new research on stroke patient management (TU-136); evidence-based approaches to intercranial hemorrhage (WE-280); and how to interpret conflicting guidelines for interpreting a patient’s blood pressure stats during stroke treatment (TH-313).
To schedule a time to see the CereTom CT mobile stroke unit (MSU) in action, contact Lynne Gagne at lgagne@neurologica.com. The MSU will be on display for the duration of ACEP15 taking place October 26-29 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. A UTHealth MSU team member will be on-site and available to answer questions about this cutting-edge stroke treatment strategy.
About UTHealth
Established in 1972 by The University of Texas System Board of Regents, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) is Houston’s Health University and Texas’ resource for health care education, innovation, scientific discovery and excellence in patient care. The most comprehensive academic health center in The UT System and the U.S. Gulf Coast region, UTHealth is home to schools of biomedical informatics, biomedical sciences, dentistry, medicine, nursing and public health and includes The University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center and a growing network of clinics throughout the region. The university’s primary teaching hospitals include Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital. For more information, visit www.uth.edu.
About NeuroLogica
NeuroLogica, the healthcare subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., develops, manufactures, and markets innovative imaging technologies and is committed to delivering fast, easy and accurate diagnostic solutions to healthcare providers. NeuroLogica, the global corporate headquarters and manufacturer of computed tomography, is also the U.S. headquarters for sales, marketing and distribution of all Samsung digital radiography and ultrasound systems. NeuroLogica’s growing portfolio of advanced medical technologies are used worldwide in leading healthcare institutions helping providers enhance patient care, improve patient satisfaction, and increase workflow efficiency. Samsung is committed to being leaders in the field of healthcare imaging. For more information, please visit www.SamsungNeuroLogica.com.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies, redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, printers, medical equipment, network systems, and semiconductor and LED solutions. We are also leading in the Internet of Things space through, among others, our Smart Home and Digital Health initiatives. We employ 307,000 people across 84 countries with annual sales of US $196 billion. To discover more, please visit our official website at www.samsung.com/ and our official blog at global.samsungtomorrow.com.
i Hussain MS et al. Abstract 54. Presented at: International Stroke Conference 2015; Feb. 11-13, 2015; Nashville, Tennessee
ii Crit Care Clin 31 (2015) 197–224
iii CDC, NCHS. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2013 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2015. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2013, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program.
