by OpenwaterUS
Let ambulance crews spot large-vessel strokes on the spot and drive them straight to one of the minority of hospitals that can remove the clot, since every hour of delay costs brain tissue.
Research use only; peer-reviewed studies at US stroke centres, FDA filing still ahead
Updated 8 May 2025Checked 11 Oct0 updates this week
Near-infrared light passes through scalp and skull; light scattered by moving red blood cells forms a flickering speckle pattern.
Faster blood flow blurs the speckle more; tracking speckle contrast gives a waveform of brain blood flow with every heartbeat.
A transformer deep-learning model trained on patient scans flags the flow pattern typical of a large blocked artery.
| Spec | Open-Motion stroke detector |
|---|---|
| Scan time | 60 s at the bedsideR (reported) |
| Sensitivity for big clots | 79% (vs 60% for RACE scale)R (reported) |
| Specificity | 84%R (reported) |
| Accuracy (AUC) | 0.82 (RACE 0.70, LAMS 0.65)R (reported) |
| Study size | 135 patients, 2 stroke centresR (reported) |
| Regulatory status | Research use only, not FDA evaluatedR (reported) |
R reported by the company
Openwater
Open-source optical blood flow and focused ultrasound devices
Openwater is a San Francisco company founded in 2016 by Mary Lou Jepsen that builds low-cost, open-source devices using light and ultrasound: Open-Motion reads blood flow in the brain to spot strokes, Open-LIFU stimulates brain circuits.
