Pioneering AI-Pushed Stroke Care in Latvia
Pauls Stradiņš Scientific College Hospital (Stradiņš Hospital) in Riga, Latvia, stands on the forefront of stroke care. Because the the primary ESO-certified stroke centre within the Baltic states, it treats over 1,000 sufferers and performs round 200 thrombectomies every year. In 2025, its neurology division was honoured with 4 diamond-level Angels Awards, cementing its place among the many world’s main stroke items. Now, constructing on this excellence, Stradiņš Hospital has lately applied medical AI to additional improve effectivity in its stroke workflows.
“Stroke care is extraordinarily time-sensitive and each minute issues,” defined Kristaps Jurjãns, MD, PhD, Head of the Stroke Unit at Stradiņš Hospital. “There are ever-growing calls for on radiologists. The AI helps our crew in working sooner and extra successfully below stress, whereas serving to us meet the rising calls for of stroke care at this time and sooner or later.”
Enhancing Workflow with Aidoc’s AI
Since they deployed Aidoc’s AI earlier this 12 months, over 8,000 affected person scans have been analysed, routinely notifying the crew of over 500 suspected optimistic circumstances of stroke. The outcomes are delivered to the broader stroke crew by way of a safe cellular app, making certain neurologists and interventional radiologists can evaluate findings immediately, wherever they’re.
For Sergejs Pavlovics, MD, Interventional Radiologist at Stradiņš Hospital, the cellular accessibility has been transformative. “If I’m on name and never but on the hospital, I can see the scans instantly on my cellphone. These additional 10 minutes could make an enormous distinction as a result of in stroke, time is mind. The app offers us respiratory house to behave sooner and put together earlier than even arriving.”
This potential to entry pictures remotely is especially priceless in Latvia’s nationwide stroke community. Sufferers are sometimes transferred from smaller hospitals to Stradiņš Hospital for thrombectomy, and AI may assist to expedite this course of sooner or later.
Impression on Affected person Care
Whereas Stradiņš Hospital’s stoke crew was already acting at an exceptionally excessive stage — with door-to-needle occasions as quick as seven minutes — the crew stories that Aidoc’s AI has added consistency and reassurance to their workflow.
“Even when our personal neurologists are extremely expert in stroke imaging, AI gives a dependable second opinion, making certain no time is wasted,” stated Dr. Jurjāns. “Trying forward, its biggest profit might be in regional hospitals, the place neuroradiologists aren’t all the time instantly obtainable. If AI is adopted extra extensively, it may assist bridge that hole and information which sufferers needs to be transferred for thrombectomy.”
The hospital sees nice potential for AI to develop entry to superior care nationwide. “If regional hospitals and first stroke facilities in Latvia undertake Aidoc’s AI, it’ll enable us to view their scans instantly by way of the app, as a substitute of ready for pictures to be uploaded to the nationwide system,” Dr. Pavlovics famous. “That might save valuable time for sufferers who would possibly in any other case miss the window for remedy.”
Trying Forward: Constructing a Linked Stroke Community
Stradiņš Hospital is actively discussing plans with regional hospitals to broaden AI use throughout Latvia. By doing so, they purpose to create a extra related stroke community, enabling sooner, extra equitable entry to thrombectomy for sufferers — no matter the place they first current.
As Dr. Jurjāns summed up, “The largest affect of AI isn’t simply inside our hospital, it’s within the potential to enhance stroke care throughout the whole nation. If extra hospitals are related, we will make choices faster, switch sufferers sooner and, in the end, save extra lives.”
By embedding Aidoc’s AI into their workflow, Stradiņš Hospital is reaffirming its position as a pioneer in stroke care — not just for Latvia however as a mannequin for the broader European area.