Mumbai-based AI-driven medical imaging solutions provider Qure.ai will deploy a hub and spoke network at Christian Medical College (CMC), Ludhiana, in partnership with Medtronic India, in a move aiming to elevate stroke care and diagnosis in the state of Punjab.

Under the agreement, CMC Ludhiana will serve as the central hub connected to a network of periphery hospitals across Punjab. Each spoke hospital will have equal access to the neurocritical care team function at CMC Ludihiana, a hospital that is the first advanced stroke centre certified by the World Stroke Organization and a Collaborating Center of Excellence for stroke research under the Indian Council of Medical Research.

According to Qure.ai, this approach will enable faster triaging, access to real-time information, and seamless hub and spoke coordination. The capability and availability of hospitals, especially those with specialised stroke units are fragmented across most parts of India. Periphery hospitals often lack neurocritical resources that can aid in faster diagnosis and treatment of stroke cases, which can be detrimental to the patient’s prognosis and their quality of life.

When a suspected stroke patient is admitted to a spoke hospital, Qure.AI’s AI-enabled head CT solution qER quickly processes their CT scan using AI. A real-time alert is sent to CMC Ludhiana’s specialised stroke team with annotated findings on the CT scan. In the event of advanced interventions such as thrombectomy, the spoke team is promptly guided to transfer the patient to the hub.

qER uses cutting-edge technology to analyse head CT scans, pinpointing intracranial haemorrhages and infarcts for prioritised clinical assessment. The software offers crucial features such as anatomical location identification, precise quantification of ICH and infarct volumes, and ASPECTS scoring to assess stroke severity. Additionally, qER efficiently identifies Large Vessel Obstruction on CT Angiography, aiding in the selection of patients for Mechanical Thrombectomy, a crucial intervention that might otherwise be delayed or overlooked.