Stroke Rehab: Tips for Device Innovators
Image credit: Robina Weermeijer
As the industry grapples with new and emerging innovations for stroke treatment, simplicity and speed will be the key to success in future design.
“[Treating a stroke is] not like an elective procedure where you can plug something in, look at settings, get feedback,” said Michael Gilvarry, General Manager of Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s CERENOVUS in a recent interview with Medical Design & Outsourcing.
“Stroke is really about getting that clot out as quickly as possible… Simplicity is going to be super important in the evolution of stroke treatment.”
“You’re trying to remove the blood clot, you’re trying to do it quickly because time is brain, and you’re trying to do it in one pass.”
Gilvarry pointed to a number of key recent advances helping to inform considerations for the future, including:
- Improving stroke treatment through advanced medical imaging helps clinicians better understand the location and composition of a patient’s clot with the help of technology. One example is CT scanning in ambulances, providing information to the treating team prior to the patient’s arrival at hospital.
- Faster speed and first-time effectiveness: such as the CERENOVUS-designed braided Emboguard balloon guide catheter, which uses an eccentric lumen for greater trackability.
- Advancing thrombectomy device R&D: enabling researchers to create vascular models and technology prototypes by identifying the various physical properties of clots, and moving on quickly when experiments fail.
Read the full interview via Medical Design & Outsourcing.
