Our brains contain an intricate network of arteries that carry blood throughout the organ along winding paths. For neurosurgeons, following these paths with a wire – which is just a third of a millimeter in diameter and enters the body through the femoral artery – to reach an obstructed blood vessel can be tricky. For instance, if they want to point the wire in a different direction, they often have to pull the instrument out and then reinsert it, lengthening surgery times and increasing the risk of complications. But the new wire developed by Artiria is set to change all that. Its tip can be controlled by pressing a button on its handle, through an apparatus that runs entirely on mechanical forces. Artiria just received FDA clearance to test and market its system in the US.
The figures on strokes are startling. According to the World Health Organization, strokes are the leading cause of disability and the second-leading cause of death worldwide. One-fourth of people over 25 can expect to experience one during their lifetime. And when a stroke occurs, time is of the essence – rapid treatment can improve a patient’s prognosis considerably. “While strokes can be caused by a ruptured aneurysm, 80% of the time they’re due to a blood clot in the brain,” says Guillaume Petit-Pierre, Artiria co-founder and CEO. In combination with drug treatments to dissolve the clot, the surgical act, facilitated by the real-time visualization of the instruments by x-rays, makes it possible to extract the clot mechanically. The wire serves as a guide so that the other instruments needed for the operation can be inserted. Before creating their company, Petit-Pierre and Marc Boers – the other Artiria co-founder – spoke with several neurosurgeons and watched them operate several times in order to gain a thorough understanding of the techniques they use. The founders’ goal was to develop a device that would fit in seamlessly with existing procedures. “We were able to get the FDA clearance so quickly because our wire is similar to existing ones in so many respects,” says Petit-Pierre.
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Image: EPFL spin-off Artiria has developed a wire with a guidable tip that makes it easier for neurosurgeons to navigate the dense network of cerebral arteries and get to the source of strokes. Its system has just received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Credits: Alain Herzog