Device for removing blood clots using ultrasound

2023: Product Announcement

At the end of January 2023, scientists from North Carolina State University and Georgia Tech presented a device that is designed specifically to affect blood clots formed by cerebral venous sinus thrombosis using ultrasound.

Blood clots form in veins that normally leak blood from the brain. When these veins are blocked, blood pressure in the brain rises to such an extent that a potentially fatal or disabling hemorrhage can occur. Most existing treatments involve the use of drugs to dissolve the thrombus. However, according to the team of scientists who conducted the study, it takes an average of about 29 hours for such drugs to work - and never less than 15 hours. By contrast, the new sensor destroys blood clots in less than 30 minutes.

Device for removing blood clots using ultrasound

The device is in a catheter that is surgically inserted into a vein and then directed to the site of the thrombus formation. When the device reaches its destination, it emits ultrasound pulses that spiral forward, similar to a tornado. The shear stress created by these "vortex ultrasound" waves is sufficient to rapidly and thoroughly destroy the thrombus. This effect is consistent with the results of a previous study conducted by Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, which indicated that the likelihood of blood clots in the heart decreases when blood forms helical vortices while passing through the muscle.

On January 25, 2023, the sensor was successfully tested on blood clots in a 3D printed model of an area of the cerebral venous sinus of the brain filled with cow blood. In addition, when using a sensor in animal vein samples, it was found that waves were harmless to the walls of the veins - waves also did not significantly harm red blood cells.^[1]

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