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October 23, 2003
Corkscrew Aids Stroke Victims
Nearly 1 million North Americans will experience a stroke this year. This is one of the leading causes of death in the US, and survivors are often left disabled and helpless.
But a new experimental device - the MERCI Retriever - is offering hope even for the most devastating strokes.
Tests with patients not responsive to clot-busting drugs like TPA have shown restored blood flow in nearly half the subjects.
In use, a thin tube is inserted into the patient and threaded through the body to the location of the clot. The tube contains a wire made of nitinol, a shape-memory alloy, which coils into a corkscrew shape as it's pushed out of the tube.
The nitinol corkscrew engages the clot like a wine cork, then is retracted, taking with it the problem clot and releasing the blockage.
The MERCI Retriever is at times nothing short of miraculous. At the bedside of the first patient ever treated, doctors reportedly gave each other high-fives as their patient - paralyzed for six hours - began to speak.
TPA is effective primarily within three hours of the stroke, and only for smaller clots. The MERCI Retriever has the potential to work as late as eight hours after the first symptoms, and is able to handle larger clots....giving to stroke victims another lease on life.
Posted by Sam in Health & Medicine
Comments
I think doctors are now more like an engineer repairing the body machine.
Miracles can be easily explained now.
Posted by: anil pendse at November 19, 2003 6:35 AM