Mobile stroke unit tops Cleveland Clinic's top innovations for 2015
Cleveland Clinic announced its 9th annual list of Top 10 Medical Innovations likely to have major impact on improving patient care in 2015. The list of up-and-coming technologies and drug therapies was selected by a panel of 110 Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists and announced during Cleveland Clinic’s 2014 Medical Innovation Summit.
The No. 1 innovation is mobile stroke treatment unit. Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and an American dies every four minutes from stroke complications so there is good cause to improve care. Since irreversible brain damage occurs within minutes, the drug tPA is the best treatment to break up blood clots. However, only 2-7 percent of eligible patients get the drug in time. To help improve that rate, mobile stroke treatment units can administer tPA sooner.
“Now that we have effective treatments, the problem is really access,” said Peter Rasmussen, MD, director of Cleveland Clinic’s Cerebrovascular Center. “Current care delivery systems don’t match the biology. The brain begins to die at a much faster rate than we’re able to bring treatment to bear.” These mobile units have a CT scanner that lets clinicians determine whether the patient has had a ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. And, he said the power of broadband networks allows for transmission of video and EKG readings. These technological advances has made the mobile unit cost-effective when compared to the costs of long-term care for disabilities caused by stroke.
Rasmusson said one mobile unit can serve up to 1 million people.
The other innovations include the following:
2. Dengue fever vaccine
3. Cost-effective, fast, painless blood testing
4. PCSK9 inhibitors for cholesteral reduction
5. Antibody-drug conjugates
6. Checkpoint inhibitors for advanced cancer treatment
7. Leadless cardiac pacemaker
8. New drugs for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
9. Single dose intra-operative radiation therapy for breast cancer
10. New drug for heart failure
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.