CVA & TELESTROKE

WHAT IS CVA?

Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is also referred to as a stroke. A stroke is a medical emergency. The sudden death of some brain cells due to lack of oxygen when the blood flow to the brain is impaired by blockage or rupture of an artery to the brain.
According to the World Health Organization, 15 million people suffer stroke worldwide each year. Of these, 5 million die and another 5 million are permanently disabled. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. More than 140,000 people die each year from stroke in the United States. Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. Each year, approximately 795,000 people suffer a stroke in the United States only.  About 600,000 of these are first attacks, and 185,000 are recurrent attacks.
Symptoms of a stroke depend on the area of the brain affected. Symptoms of stroke include trouble walking, speaking, and understanding, as well as paralysis or numbness of the face, arm, or leg.
In treatment, the most critical issue is time – ‘time is brain’. Early treatment with medications like tPA or mechanical thrombectomy can minimize brain damage.

WHAT IS TELESTROKE?

In Telestroke, also called stroke Telemedicine, doctors who have advanced training in treating strokes can use technology to treat people who have had strokes in a remote location. These stroke experts work with the person's local emergency medicine doctors and teams to recommend diagnosis and treatment that can be given in their community.
Doctors and patients communicate using digital video cameras, internet telecommunications, robotic Telepresence, smartphones, tablets, and other technology.
Stroke Telemedicine operates on a distant site-and-originating site system. A large urban medical center, generally certified as a primary or comprehensive stroke center, usually serves as the primary medical center (the distant site). Remote locations, often smaller regional hospitals, serve as the originating site.
In Tele-stroke, many people work together as a team, including a program manager, a clinical coordinator, vascular neurologists, neurosurgeons and radiologists at the distant site, and emergency medicine doctors and other staff at the originating site. Radiology technicians, informational technology staff, researchers, nurses, nurse practitioners, and other staff also are important members of the stroke Telemedicine team.
CVAid is a Tele-stroke mobile software solution that enables the neurologist to remotely assess, on his smartphone, patients suspected with stroke. Real-time, objective, patient-specific data such as images, videos and vocal records of the patient, are acquired by a first responder (in the Professional Version) at the patient’s location. This allows the neurologist to independently reach a diagnostic conclusion and treatment plan.