According to a recent news release, neurosurgeons of the Valhalla, NY-based Westchester Medical Center (WMC) report that they are the first to use the new Solitaire Revascularization Device for acute ischemic stroke since its approval by the US Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in early March. Clinical trials in which the device was tested suggest that it led to improved survival 3 months following stroke.

Results from the Solitaire with the intention for thrombectomy (SWIFT) study indicate that the device opened blood vessels without causing symptomatic bleeding in or around the brain in 61% of patients.

Michael F. Stiefel, MD, PhD, director of cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery and the associate director of the stroke center at WMC comments on the device and explains its potential treatment implications, “Until recently, endovascular treatment was not an option and we were limited to only intravenous treatment within a 3-hour window. Today we are able to open blood vessels in the brain well beyond that 3-hour window, up to 8 hours. Now we also have a new tool in our arsenal that studies have shown is faster at opening them, and with stroke…time is brain,” Stiefel says.

The study reportedly further reinforced the clinical trial findings, indicating that Solitaire led to a better survival three months after stroke, with a 17% mortality rate with the new device compared to a rate of 38% in older retrievers.

Source: WMC