Australia-based EMVision Medical Devices has begun Stage II of its clinical trial for its first-generation portable brain scanner.

This stage of the trial follows the recent completion of Stage I successfully, involving 30 healthy volunteers.

In the second stage, 150 acute stroke and stroke mimic patients are planned to be enrolled. The trial is being carried out across major comprehensive stroke centres in Australia, including Royal Melbourne Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital and Liverpool Hospital.

There is a stroke patient population and a dedicated research team at each site to provide support for an expedited patient enrolment process.

Operators will be able to conduct EMVision scans in shorter windows, as insights obtained from healthy volunteers in the first stage resulted in key usability, workflow and technical improvements to the scanner.

EMVision Medical Devices CEO Dr Ron Weinberger said: “Significant preparation and positive collaboration between the EMVision team and hospital staff has been underway to ensure the next phase of our multi-site clinical trials is set up for success.

“We have taken the technical and usability information from Stage I and refined our device for Stage II and although the modifications are not major, they will result in significant improvements in performance.”

The company has activated Liverpool Hospital as the first site for Stage II. Royal Melbourne will be activated next month and Princess Alexandra within a couple of weeks of activating Royal Melbourne.