Stroke victim from Alwoodley hails 'miraculous' new lifesaving treatment at Leeds hospitals

Mike Wood, 57, suffered a stroke while cooking in the kitchen of his home at Alwoodley and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

A potentially fatal blood clot was quickly assessed using new imaging software that uses artificial intelligence to give doctors real-time views of the brain

Doctors at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust then performed a thrombectomy to remove the clot blocking blood flow to his brain.

Mr Wood, who is recuperating at home with his wife Julie, said: “I think it is miraculous. I was told I would have either been dead or paralysed down the right side without this particular treatment.”

The hospital trust is the first regional stroke centre in the UK to adopt the RapidAI advanced imaging platform across various sites in its stroke network.

Mr Wood, a retired Yorkshire Television equipment manager, suffered a stroke in April after suddenly felt an odd sensation down his right side, and lost sight in his right eye.

He said: “My speech was odd and I was saying all sorts of things. I remember waking up in the ambulance and then going straight into the hospital for a CT scan and don’t remember anything much after that for a couple of days.

“I was not expecting this and didn’t seem to grapple with what had happened. The first few hours you think all sorts of things, and usually bad.

" Every moment adds up, and when you need it doing, they have to act quickly. The doctor is definitely a miracle worker.

"It’s still quite early days but I’m slowly starting to go out for walks with the dog, although Julie is keeping a close eye on me,”

RapidAI is an automated imaging system that uses artificial intelligence to analyse a patient’s brain scans, providing results to stroke teams within minutes.

The Rapid platform can quickly identify the amount of brain tissue that can be potentially saved if a procedure like a mechanical thrombectomy is performed.

RapidAI results quickly show whether a blood vessel is blocked, how much blood is flowing through, how much of the brain is likely 'dead' and how much can be potentially saved - refining and speeding up the decision-making process for doctors.

Consultant neuro-radiologist, Dr Tony Goddard, along with his colleagues at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s Hospital, has been using the Rapid platform for his patients in Leeds and other patients referred from Bradford, Wakefield and Calderdale.

Dr Goddard said: “The information RapidAI provides is very often a key part of a life-saving procedure, and patients who enter the angiogram room pretreatment unable to move and talk, can be moving and sometimes talking by the end of the procedure.

“We use RapidAI for most patients now and it is particularly beneficial for those who wake up with stroke symptoms for whom there is currently no alternative way to assess treatment for these patients as accurately.”

Marc Hofmans of RapidAI, said: "With RapidAI technology at multiple sites, when potential stroke patients present throughout the region, there can be an even more immediate and coordinated response, informing treatment and transfer decisions, saving critical time, and contributing to better patient outcomes.”