'Miracle' scanning tool could help paramedics identify a stroke in seconds

When tradie and triplet Joel Daniels started losing strength in his left side in 2022, he saw three different clinicians over a week.

Finally, his sister Hannah, who is a nurse, noticed his face drooping.

"I knew something wasn't right, my arm was the first thing that failed me," Daniels said.

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"Straight away she recognised the signs of stroke she knew I was having a stroke and took me to hospital."

At age 31, Daniels suffered a slow brain bleed and luckily his sister recognised the symptoms.

A new scanning tool could soon help health professionals identify a stroke in seconds.

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RMIT University in Melbourne has developed a stroke scanner which aims to detect a potential stroke quickly.

"Often subtle signs may be missed," Professor Dinesh Kumar said.

Researchers have trained artificial intelligence to analyse micro muscle changes in the face via a smartphone, with mouth droop being a common stroke indicator.

"What our app is able to do is pick up the subtle signs of the droop, of the change in the way that the person is smiling, and using that we are able to determine if the person has had a stroke," Kumar said.

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While the scanning technology is still in the early development phase of testing, so far it has an 82 per cent accuracy rate for detecting stroke. 

A goal in the future is to equip first responders with the technology. 

Daniels is now an ambassador for the Stroke Foundation and is grateful to be able to share his story. 

"I just think it's a miracle," he said.

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