Medical Imaging Data and Process Analysis in a Stroke Scenario

Abstract

The quality of the healthcare provided in the context of cerebrovascular accident (stroke) is closely linked to the celerity of the diagnosis, so the action of health professionals must be coordinated, and all the processes should proceed as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible. The main objective of the research study reported by this paper was to evaluate whether the data resulting from the processes related to urgent medical imaging studies of a medium-size hospital can support the characterisation of the procedures performed, as well as the identification of points of improvement, specifically in the context of stroke clinical situations. Data related to Head Computed Tomography (Head CT) and Angio Computed Tomography (Angio CT) studies carried out over a year (from August 1, 2017, to July 31, 2018) on 464 patients with suspected acute stroke were aggregated and analysed. The results of the statistical analysis of the duration of the different processes and subprocesses demonstrate significant variability (i.e., 47±37 minutes and median of 38 minutes for Head CT and 23±55 minutes and median of 13 minutes for Angio CT). According to the results, it seems that aggregated data from the different information systems supporting medical imaging procedures should be used for continuous practice improvement.