Clot-Busting Device
Albany Med is First in Region to Offer Clot-Busting Device
Albany Medical Center is the first in the region to offer stroke patients emergency treatment with a new corkscrew-shaped device that pulls blood clots out of arteries in the brain. It was approved by the FDA last fall after clinical testing showed it could extend the time window in which a stroke patient can get treatment from 6 hours to 8 hours and that it works in 50 percent of stroke patients it is used in, the highest among any device used for stroke treatment.
"This really is a breakthrough technology that is now part of our multi-disciplinary arsenal in reversing paralysis from stroke," said Dileep Yavagal, M.D., stroke neurologist and neurointerventionalist at the Medical Center's Neurosciences Institute.
The device, called "MERCI" (Mechanical Embolus Removal in Cerebral Ischemia), is made of nickel and titanium alloy and is about an inch long and shaped like a thin corkscrew. It is inserted into the blocked brain artery through a catheter, which is fed into the femoral artery in the leg, up through the aorta, and into an artery leading to the brain. In this minimally invasive procedure, doctors insert the corkscrew and pull the clot out through the catheter, in an effort to bring back blood flow in the brain. It is used in patients with strokes caused by blood clots, not those caused by hemorrhages in the brain.
"This procedure, which is appropriate for the majority of stroke patients, can be done in the first 8 hours after a stroke. That extends the time by 2 hours that a patient can get to the hospital and have the best chance at effective treatment. In some patients with strokes in the back of the brain (brain stem) the device can be used with good results up to 12 hours after a stroke begins," said Dr. Yavagal.
Symptoms of a stroke include sudden numbness, weakness or paralysis, especially on one side of the body. Other symptoms can be sudden blurred vision and/or sudden difficulty in speaking or understanding language. Patients with these symptoms should call "911" right away.
(Originally Filed 03/02/05)
