Medtronic and Viz.ai—which focuses on applied artificial intelligence (AI) in stroke care—have partnered to accelerate the adoption of Viz.ai’s new technology, which is designed to help synchronise stroke care and decrease time to treatment, potentially improving outcomes for patients. Viz.ai’s technology uses AI to identify suspected large vessel occlusion strokes and automatically notify specialists.

The Viz.ai software connects to hospital computed tomography (CT) scanners and alerts stroke specialists within minutes that a suspected large vessel occlusion stroke has been identified, sending the radiological images directly to their smart phones where they can be viewed. Viz.ai enables a physician to provide the patient with the treatment they need as quickly as possible.

Elad Levy (Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, USA) says: “Viz.ai allows clinicians to receive an alert for suspected large vessel occlusions and the corresponding visual data. The combination of AI powered alerts, mobile image viewing, and HIPAA compliant communication facilitates synchronization of stroke care with great potential to impactfully reduce door-to-needle time and help an increased number of patients.”

Chris Mansi, neurosurgeon, co-founder and CEO of Viz.ai, comments: “Medtronic is an innovative company focused on therapies that extend life and restore health. As the largest medical device company in the world, Medtronic is an ideal partner to help physicians access Viz.ai’s cutting-edge technology to ensure as many patients get the care they need as quickly as possible.”

According to a press release, a Viz.ai study in two centres showed that in 95.5% of true positive cases, its technology alerted the stroke specialist earlier than the standard of care, saving an average of 52 minutes.

Through this agreement, Medtronic will distribute Viz.ai’s existing large vessel occlusion detection and triage software services, which are currently permitted for marketing in the USA. It was the first clinical decision support software designed to analyse CT results that may notify providers of a potential stroke in their patients cleared by the US FDA. The technology is available in more than 200 hospitals, with the goal of making Viz.ai available to every stroke centre in the country.