Device Removes Brain Clots in Stroke Patients

A new device is introduced into an artery leading to the brain of a stroke patient, where it is designed to restore blood flow by engaging, capturing, and removing the blood clot. The device has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is the first such medical device cleared by the agency.

The minimally invasive therapy was successfully tested in a trial of 141 patients who were ineligible for a clot-busting drug such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which can only be used within three hours of stroke onset. Called the Merci Retriever, the device is the product of Concentric Medical (Mountain View, CA, USA). A small puncture in the groin is used to introduce the Merci Retriever into an artery.

"This is a very exciting result for all of our patients and for stroke research,” remarked Wade Smith, M.D., Ph.D., national principal investigator of the study and associate professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF, USA). "We experienced some remarkable outcomes during the trial and look forward to having this available for patients experiencing devastating strokes.”

Of the estimated 700,000 strokes occurring annually in the United States, about 83% (581,000) are ischemic, meaning that this many would be candidates for the Merci Retriever.





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