Hackensack Meridian Health Hospitals Adopt Innovative Neuroimaging Technology to Treat Stroke Patients More Quickly, Effectively

Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive health network, announced that Hackensack University Medical Center and Jersey Shore University Medical Center recently implemented innovative neuroimaging technology, RAPID Software, iSchemaView, Inc., to help treat stroke patients more quickly and effectively.

“Hackensack University Medical Center is on the forefront of transforming health care with cutting-edge technology like RAPID software,” said Ihor S. Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, president of Hackensack University Medical Center and Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital. “Time is critical when treating stroke patients. RAPID technology will help our world-class team members improve outcomes and widen the window for more stroke patients.”

Earlier this year, the American Heart Association issued new guidelines extending the window for stroke patients up to 24 hours. Data shows that using RAPID’s advanced CT and MR imaging technology will double the number of stroke patients eligible for treatment and quadruple the window for treatment eligibility. Now, when patients have a stroke or present stroke-like symptoms, physicians perform a CT scan and send images through RAPID software. RAPID then processes the color-coded neuroimaging scans that show areas of the brain that can be saved following a traumatic event. Physicians receive reconstructed neuroimages back in a matter of minutes, enhancing decision making.

“Jersey Shore University Medical Center will be able to immediately identify brain impairment and areas of opportunity faster than ever before thanks to RAPID’s game-changing technology,” said Kenneth N. Sable, M.D., MBA, FACEP, president of Jersey Shore University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital. “This advanced CT imaging technology will help our team members make more informed decisions in those critical moments after a stroke.”

Hackensack University Medical Center and Jersey Shore University Medical Center join JFK Medical Center in implementing RAPID. JFK Medical Center was one of the first hospitals in New Jersey to adopt RAPID technology for the ground-breaking DAWN clinical trial in 2016, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in November 2017.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 16 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals - Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 450 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has 33,000 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network’s notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” one of the “20 Best Workplaces in Health Care” in the nation, and the number one “Best Place to Work for Women.” The network was also named to Becker’s Healthcare’s “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2018” list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of 60 students from a pool of more than 2,100 applicants in 2018 to the On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Hackensack Meridian Health formed a partnership that brings together two world-class organizations with deep New Jersey roots and a single goal: Finding more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it. To achieve this goal, the new Memorial Sloan Kettering-Hackensack Meridian Health partnership will combine both organizations’ unparalleled expertise in all areas of cancer care and research as well as their commitment to excellence, to accelerate new discoveries and improve the lives of patients they jointly serve while training a new generation of leaders in the field. Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.