Medical Design Briefs - September 2023 - 38

Real-Time Guidable-Tip Wire Aids in Surgically Treating
Strokes
Neurosurgeons can
navigate the dense
network of cerebral
arteries.
EPFL
Lausanne, Switzerland
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 United States.
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 percent 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
neuro surgeons and watched them
38
Marc Boers and Guillaume Petit-Pierre (Credit: EPFL)
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.
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
n Useful for Other Types of PostStroke
Surgeries, Too
Petit-Pierre and Boers tested their system
on 3D printed, clear-silicone models
of cerebral arteries, and found that
it didn't create any major differences
for neurosurgeons. It simply has an extra
button on the handle that neurosurgeons
can press when they want the
Medical Design Briefs, September 2023
The wire with a guidable tip that makes it easier for neurosurgeons to navigate the dense network of cerebral arteries.
(Credit: EPFL)

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Medical Design Briefs - September 2023

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