€5m stroke centre ‘most advanced in Europe’

IRELAND’S first stroke centre, which opens in Cork within weeks, will be the most advanced of its kind in Europe.

The €5 million centre, based in the Cork Medical Centre, is being fitted with the first hi-tech scanner of its kind ever to be used in Europe.

It will allow doctors to see any blood clot in a patient’s brain, as well as the level of blood flow, cutting the crucial time between diagnosis and treatment.

A stroke is a blood clot in the brain that reduces blood flow and can result in permanent damage.

Speed of treatment is crucial because the sooner a patient is treated the less chance there is of permanent brain damage.

Doctors say that treatment is needed within three hours of a stroke to ensure people have the best chance of making a full recovery.

Until now, doctors have had to use a combination of X-ray images and CT scans or magnetic resonancetomography imaging (MRIs) to capture a detailed image of the flow of blood to the brain.

But Siemens Healthcare has installed an advanced Artis Zee Biplane system in the Cork Medical Centre’s stroke facility – the first centre in Europe to use this technology.

The machine uses new software called the Syngo Neuro PBV IR software, which combines the two previous treatments.

The new technology allows doctors to react immediately to changes in the blood vessels and initiate the proper treatment measures more quickly.

It also allows doctors guide a catheter through the brain to deliver a drug to dissolve the clot or break it up mechanically.

“Approximately 10,000 people die from strokes every year, making it the third biggest cause of death in Ireland,” said James Sheehan, chief executive of Sheehan Medical, operator of Cork Medical Centre.

“Fast treatment for stroke victims is vital – the earlier the condition is treated the larger the chance that as little brain tissue as possible will be destroyed. Our new stroke centre will ensure the speedy diagnosis and treatment for stroke patients from anywhere in Ireland during the three-hour golden window.”

The centre is withinthree hours by ambulance for most of the southern half of Ireland, or by helicopter from anywhere on the island.

Sheehan Medical is working with international healthcare operators that are already using this kind of technology to treat strokes, but the Cork Medical Centre will be the first hospital in Europe to use it.

It is currently being fitted out before systems checks get under way. Selected patients will be treated at the centre before the end of the year with the facility due to be fully operational by January of next year.

The new €90m Cork Medical Centre at City Gate in Mahon, which will have 75 single inpatient bedrooms and 20 outpatient beds, is due to open in September.

It will be the first private hospital facility to open in the city for 30 years.