Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, is a common complication after stroke that can increase the risk of pneumonia, prolong hospital stays and, in severe cases, require patients to rely on feeding tubes for nutrition.

The Phagenyx® System combines temporary nutritional support with gentle electrical stimulation that helps retrain swallowing muscles weakened by stroke. The therapy stimulates nerves in the throat to encourage the brain to restore normal swallowing function.

"We're committed to bringing the most advanced, evidence-based treatments to our patients," says Arun Talkad, MD, director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute. "The Phagenyx® catheter not only provides temporary nutrition but also stimulates the muscles involved in swallowing, helping patients recover this critical function sooner. Studies have shown it can reduce the need for permanent feeding tubes, which can have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life. This technology adds another important tool to the comprehensive stroke care we provide."

Nearly 800,000 people experience a stroke each year in the United States, according to the American Stroke Association. While paralysis, speech changes and vision loss are among the best-known effects of stroke, many patients also experience dysphagia, making it difficult or unsafe to swallow food, liquids and even saliva.

The Phagenyx® System is one of several advanced therapies available through the Comprehensive Stroke Center at OSF Saint Francis, supporting people throughout their recovery and rehabilitation.

OSF HealthCare, a not-for-profit health system serving communities across Illinois and Michigan, and technology vendor RapidAI, a global leader in enterprise clinical AI, today announced the expansion of the Rapid Enterprise™ Platform to all 18 hospitals in the OSF Ministry.

Building on an initial deployment at select sites, the expansion will give each OSF hospital access to an advanced platform built to analyze medical images, connect care teams, and support patient management across the patient journey.

RapidAI’s deep clinical AI goes beyond alerting teams to a potential finding. It provides automated measurements, disease characterization, and advanced visualization, giving radiologists and clinicians a clearer, more complete picture of each patient’s condition. By automating parts of image analysis and delivering actionable clinical context, the platform helps OSF teams apply their expertise where it matters most, to make informed decisions and coordinate next steps. Keeping that information connected as patients move through the system helps reduce fragmentation and maintain continuity across the network.

OSF expanded its use of the RapidAI platform after seeing measurable improvements in treatment times and more consistent identification of people who might have suffered a stroke and required intervention. The expansion builds on those results with a technology provider focused on deeper integration, enterprise governance, analytics, and ongoing optimization across its hospitals.

“Every community we serve should benefit from the same advanced technology, whether a patient enters one of our largest medical centers or a rural, critical access hospital,” said Arun Talkad, MD, a neurologist who directs stroke care at OSF HealthCare.

“After seeing how RapidAI supported clinical decisions and patient care at select sites, we saw the opportunity to add more AI solutions to the platform and extend that value across all hospitals, strengthening access to specialty expertise and helping us deliver high-quality, consistent care at every level of our health system.”

The Rapid Enterprise Platform is designed to support health systems beyond a single disease state or moment in care. RapidAI’s clinical coverage spans neuro, cardiac and vascular care, trauma, and oncology. It combines deep clinical AI with advanced 3D visualization across the body, care coordination, enterprise analytics and longitudinal patient management. RapidAI-developed and curated third-party applications allow health systems to scale AI across specialties and follow disease over time through one platform.

OSF is committed to ensuring reliable care at all times. The platform's infrastructure, Rapid Edge Cloud, is designed to keep critical decision support and care coordination tools available even during a network or cloud outage, helping minimize disruption and keep care consistently available.

“Our goal is to help hospitals deliver the best possible care for the communities they serve, and validated AI that improves clinical decision-making can be a powerful part of that,” said Karim Karti, CEO of RapidAI. “OSF is leading by example, implementing AI across its enterprise to help teams work at their best, reduce variation and make informed decisions. We are proud to support that vision as its strategic enterprise AI partner.”

The expansion builds on recognized leadership at OSF HealthCare in using technology to strengthen patient care. In 2025, Fortune named OSF one of America’s Most Innovative Companies for the second time, making it the only Illinois health system on the list. OSF also earned CHIME Digital Health Most Wired recognition for the 14th consecutive year, achieving Level 9 certification across acute, ambulatory and long-term acute care settings. These honors reinforce OSF is a leader in applying technology at scale to improve care.

Video clips with Dr. Arun Talkad

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