Researchers at Stanford University say they have developed a more effective way to treat strokes.
The new technology, called the milli-spinner thrombectomy, has been shown to have more successful outcomes for patients who have experienced strokes, as well as heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms and other clot-related diseases, according to a press release from the university.
Blood clots are clumped together by thread-like proteins called fibrin. The milli-spinner — which is a long, hollow, rotating tube with a series of "fins and slits" — enters the body through a catheter and applies force and suction to the clot.
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As a result, the blood clot is reduced in size — down to as little as 5% of its original volume — without breaking any of the fibrin threads.
That’s important because breaking up the clot can result in pieces of it escaping and getting stuck in hard-to-reach places, the researchers noted.
With the milli-spinner, red blood cells are "freed" and the much smaller fibrin clot is removed from the body.
"With existing technology, there’s no way to reduce the size of the clot. They rely on deforming and rupturing the clot to remove it," said senior author Renee Zhao, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, in the release.
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"What’s unique about the milli-spinner is that it applies compression and shear forces to shrink the entire clot, dramatically reducing the volume without causing rupture."
Time is of the essence when treating an ischemic stroke, which is when the clot is cutting off oxygen to the brain. Studies have shown that for every minute during a stroke, 1.9 million brain neurons and 14 billion synapses are destroyed.
With current technologies, clots are only removed about half the time on the first try, the release stated, and they fail completely about 15% of the time.
"For most cases, we’re more than doubling the efficacy of current technology, and for the toughest clots – which we’re only removing about 11% of the time with current devices – we’re getting the artery open on the first try 90% of the time," said co-author Jeremy Heit, chief of neuroimaging and neurointervention at Stanford, in the release.
"This is a sea-change technology that will drastically improve our ability to help people."
The researchers’ findings, which incorporated both animal studies and machine-based flow models, were published June 4 in the journal Nature.
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The multi-spinner could potentially be used for other applications, such as capturing and removing kidney stone fragments, the release noted.
The team is now working to get the new technology approved for clinical use, with clinical trials expected to begin soon.
"What makes this technology truly exciting is its unique mechanism to actively reshape and compact clots, rather than just extracting them," Zhao said.
"We’re working to bring this into clinical settings, where it could significantly boost the success rate of thrombectomy procedures and save patients’ lives."
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Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers and cardiologists for comment.
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