Local doctors utilize advancing technology to help treat stroke [Video]

May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and advancing technology is playing a vital role in treating stroke patients.That new technology includes artificial intelligence.Dr. Colin McDonald is an emergency neurologist for Novant Health. He deals with patients suffering from strokes every day.”Stroke is an incredibly common problem,” said McDonald. “Because so many common diseases lead to stroke.”A new, advanced technology is helping local doctors, like McDonald, recognize things like blockages and brain bleeding more quickly. It’s also giving them more access to scans taken at other network hospitals and doctor’s offices across the state.”The majority of our patients don’t begin their journeys in this big stroke center — they come to us from hundreds of miles away in small community hospitals throughout Carolina and Virginia,” said McDonald. “All of those have CT scanners, but until about two years ago, I had no access to those CT scanners.”However, that has now changed, …