Stroke Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Cerenovus President Mark Dickinson on the future of stroke care

Cerenovus President Mark Dickinson forecasts the innovative technologies that will advance stroke care in the coming years.

Cerenovus Worldwide President Mark Dickinson [Photo courtesy of Johnson & Johnson MedTech]

It’s getting harder to beat aspiration systems for fast and simple thrombectomies to remove blood clots that are blocking oxygen from a stroke patient’s brain.

That’s according to Cerenovus Worldwide President Mark Dickinson, who discussed the future of stroke care in an interview with Medical Design & Outsourcing.

“It’s a very simple concept that the larger the tube you can get to face the blood clot, the more likely you’re going to be able to evacuate that clot just through suction,” he said. “And advances in technology have enabled us — and, candidly, others in the marketplace — to be able to design these larger bore, larger sized devi…

How Imperative Care seeks to change the game in stroke treatment

With a new organizational structure meant to accelerate growth, Imperative Care is seeking to improve care even more for people with strokes and other ischemic diseases.

There is an urgent need for better stroke care. Strokes hit a new person every 40 seconds in the U.S. — and kill someone about every 3 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Imperative Care CEO Fred Khosravi sees the company achieving its goals through new device designs and bolder business models. He’s the keynote interview closing out the first day of our DeviceTalks West show, Oct. 18–19 in Santa Clara, California. (Register here.)

“Our vision for Imperative Care has always been to bring forward clinically meaningful innovations that are inspired and shaped by physicians and unmet clinical needs impacting patient care,” Khosravi said in August. “We believe that the patient is the only constant in the chain of care from detection through treatment a…

Device design and development tips for the future of stroke care

Michael Gilvarry is the GM of Cerenovus in Galway, Ireland. [Photo courtesy of Johnson & Johnson MedTech]

Simplicity and speed will be the most important innovations for medical devices that treat strokes in the years ahead.

That’s according to Michael Gilvarry, GM of Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Cerenovus business. While he declined to divulge his neurovascular unit’s plans for future products, he offered advice for other device developers in a field where every minute counts.

A large vessel ischemic stroke can destroy more than 2 million brain neurons per minute before treatment restores oxygenated blood flow. A study quantifying the “time is brain” stroke mantra found that hourly neuron loss is equivalent to more than three years of normal aging.

“The drive for simplicity in stroke is very, very strong,” Gilvarry said in a Medical Design & Ou…

How Medtronic and Avail will accelerate stroke care innovation

Avail Medsystems’ consoles connect neurosurgeons with Medtronic Neurovascular sales reps, commercial teams and stroke experts. [Image courtesy of Avail]

Medtronic Neurovascular and Avail Medsystems have signed an agreement to use Avail’s operating room consoles during stroke procedures, the leaders of both businesses told Medical Design & Outsourcing this week.

Medtronic will pay to place several hundred Avail consoles around the U.S. in the next few years. The deal enables the medtech giant to connect virtually with neurosurgeons, Medtronic Neurovascular President Dan Volz said in an interview. (Read more details of the deal at our sister publication MassDevice.)

Avail’s consoles provide live-streaming video, audio and imaging data between surgeons in operating rooms and experts elsewhere. They can watch on a laptop or tablet and offer real-time feedback.

New results detail J&J Embotrap design’s first-pass performance in stroke patients

A blood clot captured by the Embotrap stent retriever [Photo courtesy of Johnson & Johnson MedTech]

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has released results for its Embotrap stent retrievers showing the next-generation design’s success in removing blood clots from ischemic stroke patients.

Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Cerenovus subsidiary tracked outcomes for 1,000 ischemic stroke patients who underwent mechanical thrombectomy procedures with Embotrap devices as a first-line therapy.

“The positive preliminary findings of this research provide real-world results that demonstrate advances are possible in mechanical thrombectomy procedures to treat ischemic stroke,” Cerenovus Worldwide President Mark Dickinson said in a news release. “It is encouraging to see these positive results and realize the impact this data can have on improved patient outcomes and changing the trajectory of stroke.”<…

Abbott says study backs Amplatzer Amulet against Boston Scientific’s Watchman

Left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) devices on the market include Abbott’s Amplatzer Amulet (left) and Boston Scientific’s Watchman (right). [Images courtesy of Abbott and Boston Scientific]Abbott’s (NYSE:ABT) today presented data supporting the use of its Amplatzer Amulet against Boston Scientific’s (NYSE:BSX) competing device.

Device-related factors and all-cause death represented categories favoring Amplatzer Amulet against Watchman, according to a news release.

Abbott designed its Amplatzer Amulet left atrial appendage (LAA) occluder with dual-seal technology. It features a lobe or piece to fill the cavity of the LAA and a disc to close off the opening into the LAA. The company said it is the first and only minimally invasive treatment option to offer immediate and complete dual-sealing closure of the LAA. It reduces the risk of stroke and eliminates the need for blood-thinning medication.

The prospective, international, multi-center Amul…

FDA approves expanded label for Boston Scientific Watchman FLX

The Watchman FLX [Image from Boston Scientific]Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) announced today that the FDA approved expanded labeling for its Watchman FLX LAAC device for stroke prevention.

The approval includes labeling with a 45-day dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) option for the left atrial appendage closure device (LAAC). DAPT represents an alternative to 45-day oral anticoagulation (OAC) plus aspirin for post-procedural treatment of non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients.

Dr. Ian Meredith, global CMO for Boston Scientific, said in a news release that the approval represents a significant step forward. “This revised labeling provides physicians more flexibility to exercise their clinical judgment based on individual patient characteristics to determine the most appropriate post-procedural antithrombotic medication regimen.”

Meredith added that the legacy Watchman and current-generation Watchman FLX tech’s robust safety and eff…

How an Embotrap stent retriever thrombectomy treats ischemic strokes

Michael Gilvarry is the GM of Cerenovus in Galway, Ireland. [Photo courtesy of Johnson & Johnson MedTech]Gilvarry is the GM of Cerenovus in Galway, Ireland. [Photo courtesy of Johnson & Johnson Medtech]

To catch a clot, you must first understand a clot, and Michael Gilvarry has spent years doing just that.

Gilvarry is the GM of Cerenovus in Galway, Ireland. He founded the Johnson & Johnson Medtech unit’s stroke science research arm and leads the acute ischemic stroke R&D portfolio.

That research led to the development and design of the Embotrap stent retriever device for thrombectomies, which helps stroke patients by removing the clots blocking the flow of blood to their brains.

“How the device design is informed by stroke science is something that we feel is really unique about the device,” he said in an interview. “All of that work we’ve done has le…

MicroTransponder reports first commercial implantation of its stroke rehab neurostim system

The Vivistim paired VNS system for chronic ischemic stroke rehabilitation [Image courtesy of MicroTransponder]MicroTransponder (Austin, Texas) recently announced the first commercial implantation of its Vivistim paired VNS system for chronic ischemic stroke rehabilitation.

Dr. Charles Y. Liu, director of the University of Southern California Neurorestoration Center, and Dr. Jonathan J. Russin, director of the USC Neuro Revascularization Center, successfully placed the small Vivistim device under the skin of Rosa Maria Villalpando’s upper left chest area during an outpatient procedure. The news, reported in a May 11 news release, comes nearly a year after MicroTransponder announced FDA approval of the Vivastim system.

“We are proud that the Vivistim System is reviving hope for stroke survivors and addressing an unmet need for those who have chronic impairment,” MicroTransponder CEO Richard Foust said in a news release. “Stroke survivors whose hand and arm fun…

Women may have more adverse events with left atrial appendage occlusion devices than men

Left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) devices on the market include Abbott’s Amplatzer Amulet (left) and Boston Scientific’s Watchman (right). [Images courtesy of Abbott and Boston Scientific]Women appear more likely than men to experience adverse events or lengthened hospital stays from left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) devices, the FDA announced today.

In a letter to health care providers, the FDA said researchers have yet to determine the reason for the difference — and that it is working with device makers to understand the cause.

Get the full story on our sister site Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Women may have more adverse events with left atrial appendage occlusion devices than men

Left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) devices on the market include Abbott’s Amplatzer Amulet (left) and Boston Scientific’s Watchman (right). [Images courtesy of Abbott and Boston Scientific]

Women appear more likely than men to experience adverse events or lengthened hospital stays from left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) devices, the FDA announced today.

The FDA in its letter to health care providers said that researchers have yet to determine the reason for the difference — and that it is working with device makers to determine the cause.

For now, FDA officials still think that the benefits outweigh the risks when it comes to using LAAO devices such as Abbott’s Amplatzer Amulet and Boston Scientific’s Watchman and Watchman FLX to prevent people with atrial fibrillation from experiencing strokes.

The FDA advised health providers to continue monitoring people with LAA…

Rapid Medical raises $50M to support its minimally invasive stroke treatments

Rapid Medical has completed an oversubscribed Series D financing worth $50 million, with money slated to support rapid worldwide commercialization of the Yokeam, Israel–based company’s minimally invasive stroke treatment tech.

The money raised comes on the heels of FDA clearance of the company’s Tigertriever revascularization device to treat ischemic stroke. Touted as a new class of clot retriever, the device includes intelligent control that allows neuro-interventionalists to better remove blood clots and restore blood flow to the brain following an ischemic event.

Rapid Medical also has the Tigertriever 13, which has a CE mark but is not yet FDA-cleared. The Tigertriever 13 is the smallest device it the company’s Tigertriever portfolio. The company describes it as the only clot retriever in the world indicated to remove clots from more distant areas in the brain.

“We’ve revolutionized intravascular devices by providing physicians with…