Why is this research needed?
Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the UK and worldwide. It’s estimated that stroke costs the UK £26billion per year. This cost includes money required for life-changing emergency treatments as well as long-term care, and care provided by informal carers, such as family and friends.
Research and development of innovative technologies can reduce this cost by improving treatment and care for people affected by stroke. Regardless of the cost, stroke has a devastating impact on a person’s life, and many stroke survivors and their carers don’t receive the support they need. These projects are developing new technologies that hold hope for improving care and access to care for people affected by stroke.
The projects are also tackling unanswered questions established in the Stroke Priority Setting Partnership (PSP). During the PSP process, we collaborated with people with lived experience of stroke and stroke professionals to find out their top priorities in stroke research. From this, we identified the top ten priorities in two areas: prevention, diagnosis and short-term care, and rehabilitation and long-term care. Each of these projects tackles at least one of the PSP priorities.
Why is the Stroke Association working with SBRI Healthcare?
Our charity has limited funds for research. However, by collaborating with SBRI Healthcare, we can drive more funding into stroke research.
SBRI Healthcare’s aims are to get the healthcare industry to:
- Improve patient care
- Increase efficiency in and enable the NHS to tackle healthcare challenges
- Improve the UK economy by supporting research and development
SBRI Healthcare is an NHS England Accelerated Access Collaborative initiative supported by the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs). You can find out more about SBRI on their website.
As the Stroke Association has built close connections with the stroke community, we’re also able to connect people with different expertise and contribute our own to support research that will improve the lives of people affected by stroke.
Lee, a stroke survivor and a member of the Stroke Voices in Research panel, said: “I was on the panel of experts that decided which awards would be funded. My expertise helped me understand which projects could best address issues that patients face. It also showed how patient involvement and participation in the project can improve research and the development of the technologies. Overall, the experience was really uplifting and interesting. I look forward to finding out how the projects progress.”
What projects are currently being funded?
Eleven projects were funded in Phase 1, which ran from February to June 2022. Over this period, the researchers assessed technical feasibility and impact. Seven of these projects were taken forward to Phase 2, which runs from January 2023 to January 2024 and will cover prototype development and evaluation.
Improving diagnosis
Sonalis Imaging (formerly M-Trust Imaging): Improving stroke imaging technology
Ultrasound imaging is used for many health procedures to look inside the body, and it’s fast, affordable and safe. However, it isn’t powerful enough to see into the brain through the skull. “Full-waveform inversion” uses advanced computational techniques to improve the clarity of ultrasound images. It could help paramedics understand what is shown in an ultrasound image of the brain. The team hope to test how this technology can be used with ultrasound to understand images of the brain.
Pockit Diagnostics: A blood test to identify strokes
Large artery stroke patients can have a thrombectomy, which dramatically decreases disability caused by stroke. However, they must be diagnosed quickly. Pockit Diagnostics have shown that two chemicals in the blood can identify patients with this type of stroke. The team hope to test 100 prototype blood tests to understand if the device could be used by paramedics to detect large artery stroke patients that could have a thrombectomy.
Improving rehabilitation
Imperial College London: OnTrack Rehab
OnTrack is a new digital rehabilitation system that was co-developed with stroke survivors and healthcare professionals. It uses technology to support stroke survivors with upper limb rehabilitation by providing activity feedback and remote coaching. The team hope to demonstrate OnTrack’s clinical and cost benefits as well as ways it could be implemented.
Cognitant Group: The ‘My Stroke Companion’ hub
There’s lots of information about stroke, but it’s hard for patients and their families to find the right information at the time that it’s useful to them. ‘My Stroke Companion’ hub provides high-quality, personalised and shareable information that supports stroke survivors, loved ones and carers to access services and peer support. The team hope that healthcare professionals will be able to integrate it into the stroke pathway at the point of hospital discharge.
NeuroVirt: Individualising physiotherapy with virtual reality
NeuroVirt aims to improve movement rehabilitation by providing fun, immersive virtual reality games which could increase the amount and intensity of physiotherapy that stroke survivors receive. Healthcare professionals can monitor progress remotely and give individualised advice for rehabilitation.
EvolvRehab: Increasing physical activity with the Move Well platform
EvolvRehab provides a virtual environment for treating neurological and age-related conditions. Users, including stroke survivors, can play exercise games at home whilst receiving feedback from a healthcare professional to meet their upper limb rehabilitation goals and increase their physical activity levels.
Odstock Medical: Muscle stimulation for improved mobility
Odstock is developing a new muscle stimulator that can support people to improve arm and leg function. It’s usable by people with a wide range of disabilities, including stroke survivors, and could help increase mobility and independence.