Avail Medsystems Provides Telepresence Platform for STAR Network’s Stroke Thrombectomy and Aneurysm Registry

May 3, 2022—Avail Medsystems announced a partnership with the Stroke Thrombectomy and Aneurysm Registry (STAR), which is led by Alejandro M. Spiotta, MD, from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, South Carolina.

Avail Medsystems is a health care technology company whose surgical telepresence platform facilitates real-time, interactive collaboration during live procedures among a network of physicians and medical device industry representatives.

STAR supports the global tracking and study of health outcomes after endovascular treatment for stroke, brain aneurysm, or other cerebrovascular diseases, with the goal of improving physicians’ precision in choosing effective therapies for patients with these conditions. The registry website is here.

As noted in the press release, investigators at 94 participating institutions in the United States and across the world use the registry data to publish papers describing new techniques, devices, and expertise that have the potential to boost neurosurgical acumen and patient care. To date, more than 10,000 strokes and 5,000 aneurysms have been enrolled and STAR collaborators have contributed more than 30 publications of original research in peer reviewed publications.

The company stated that Dr. Spiotta believes that physicians who share experiences with their colleagues are better prepared to improve their skills, adopt cutting-edge ideas, and help patients who previously would have been considered untreatable. However, collaboration typically requires travel, and for many physicians, the burdens of cost and time mean that these trips can only happen a few times a year.

To promote member engagement in the collaboration and storytelling needed to advance neurological care, Dr. Spiotta implemented a technology that would allow STAR members to observe and collaborate during procedures and offer guidance any time without leaving their own practices.

According to the company, the Avail system was selected because it allows surgeons immediate, on-demand connection both within the STAR network and across Avail’s broader network of physicians and industry, at the touch of a button through high-definition video, two-way audio, and surgical imaging views. The partnership between Avail and STAR will facilitate implementation of the Avail platform and network across the STAR network of member institutions, several of which already have an Avail console on site, so that they can broadcast live procedures while communicating with remote viewers via a simple app available on iPads and laptops.

Dr. Spiotta, the STAR Principal Investigator and registry cofounder, is a professor of neurosurgery and neuroendovascular surgery at MUSC and the director of its Neuroendovascular Surgery Division.

He commented in Avail’s press release, “Sometimes, we just need to talk a procedure through with a peer or see someone else do it to know it’s possible; that’s how we push each other to improve. The next generation of neuroendovascular surgeons is always smarter than the last because we learn from each other’s stories.”

Dr. Spiotta continued, “Each story has a lesson—a new technique, new approach, or novel strategy—that we can apply to help the next patient. Avail takes storytelling to the next level by allowing us to share live procedural experiences with any of our STAR collaborators in every corner of the world. It breaks down barriers and connects all of us in an international network to a degree that was not previously possible and will help propel the field forward as an experience and knowledge accelerator.”