PreSize® Neurovascular is launched in the NHS

London, 24 December 2020 – In a moving essay for the New Yorker in March 2019, Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke revealed the agony and stress she suffered from undergoing three surgeries for two life-threatening brain aneurysms. While Clarke has since made a remarkable recovery, she also wrote frankly of her acute awareness before surgery that she might not survive; and she is not alone in this struggle.

The NHS states that about one in 12,500 people have a ruptured aneurysm in England each year, while the percentage of the population with an undetected brain aneurysm that might rupture is much higher; one in 20 of those aneurysms is a ticking time bomb.

Stenting, or the insertion of a spring-like device into the affected brain artery, is a frequently used treatment for neurovascular ailments, like aneurysms. Considering the complexity of this minimally invasive procedure, currently there is limited patient-specific decision support to inform surgery, resulting in suboptimal surgical choices, poorer patient outcomes and hospital resource wastage.

Oxford Heartbeat’s innovative medical software PreSize® Neurovascular aims to drastically reduce risks associated with such brain surgeries by empowering clinicians to plan and rehearse stenting procedures in a safe virtual environment that accurately represents the patient’s anatomy and recommends a best-fit stent for that specific patient.

Today, doctors at St George’s Hospital in London will be the first within the NHS to begin using PreSize®. A pilot will see several hospitals across the UK using PreSize® and give Oxford Heartbeat the opportunity to collect crucial evidence of the software’s effectiveness. This pilot is fully funded by the prestigious AI in Health and Care Award 2020, created by a number of UK Government bodies, including NHSX and NIHR, in a concerted effort to incorporate AI/digital solutions that will drive innovation within the NHS. As an award holder, Oxford Heartbeat is recognised as a promising AI solution that could revolutionise patient care.

“We always put the needs of patients and the clinical community first,” said Katerina Spranger, CEO of Oxford Heartbeat. “PreSize® drives social change by bringing direct benefits to surgeons and patients, while for hospitals, we are enabling the improvement of standards for delivery of care. We estimate that PreSize® will benefit thousands of patients in the UK annually. Due to trends of ageing population, PreSize® has the potential to bring benefits to an ever-increasing number of patients in the future.”

“I am very excited about trialling PreSize® Neurovascular at St George’s Hospital”, said Dr Jeremy Madigan, Leading consultant interventional neuroradiologist (INR) based at St George’s Hospital in London. “It has the potential to vastly improve the safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness of flow diverter treatments. Knowing in advance the absolute correct size of device provides peace of mind for the operator, leads to a quicker and smoother procedure and reduces overall stress for the whole team. It will also be a very useful tool to explain procedures to our patients in clinic and, through thorough data collection and feedback, should ultimately inform improved stent design and technology.”