In Cambridgeshire, ambulance crews are testing finger-prck blood tests to diagnose severe strokes more accurately, a trial indicating they might improve diagnosis by up to double compared to assessing symptoms alone.
The tests, functioning much like Covid lateral flow tests, aim to swiftly identify if someone with suspected stroke has experienced a large vessel occlusion (LVO), which is a dangerous condition where a blood clot blocks a major brain artery.
LVOs make up around a third of strokes, but they account for an overwhelming majority of stroke-related disabilities and deaths. However, patients have a significantly better chance of recovery if the clot is surgically removed quickly.
Diagnosing LVO can be challenging without a brain scan because many conditions have similar symptoms. The UK only has 24 hospitals equipped for thrombectomy treatment, and national data shows it typically takes three hours or more to transfer patients from their first hospital to a thrombectomy center.
UpFront Diagnostics, a Cambridge-based firm, developed the test, which can identify two blood molecules: D-dimer, a clot-related protein, and GFAP, associated with brain bleeding, aiding in ruling out another stroke type.
The kit promises to detect LVO within 15 minutes, with an accuracy of about 90%, significantly higher than current ambulance assessment methods. Amanda Flanagan, the Stroke Association’s research head, pointed out that this tool can expedite crucial treatments, leading to faster and potentially more successful outcomes.
The EAST Ambulance Service NHS Trust is administering the tests to paramedics in South Cambridgeshire, gathering data to support regulatory approval in the UK. Meanwhile, the Stroke Association is also backing a separate saliva-based stroke test trial in the West Midlands.
These tests could not only save lives but also reduce healthcare costs by minimizing unnecessary transfers and imaging tests and by ultimately decreasing the need for prolonged rehabilitation and social care for patients with reduced disabilities.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/09/speedy-finger-prick-tests-to-diagnose-strokes-trialled-in-cambridgeshire
