After a Stroke, When Seconds Count, Innovative Device from NeuroInterventions Speedily Restores Brain’s Blood Flow

    A new device from NeuroInterventions, Inc., is designed to minimize brain damage by dramatically speeding the delivery of post-stroke countermeasures.

    “Stroke is the third most frequent cause of death, and the number-one cause of permanent disability,” says NeuroInterventions President and COO Michele Migliuolo [mil-u-OLO]. “When a clot blocks the flow of oxygen-rich blood in the brain, the ‘window’ for surgical help is only a few hours wide. Every second can mean a drop in brain function.”

    So, driven by the emergency-room maxim, “Time is brain,” NeuroInterventions has developed groundbreaking technology that enables surgeons to reach and remove clots in much less time than conventional approaches. Dr. Migliuolo will describe the development in a presentation today at AdvaMed 2009, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Room 304, at 10:20 a.m.

    “Even after a patient reaches a hospital, it can take up to 60 minutes just to introduce a conventional catheter through the femoral artery and steer it to the site, before you can deal with the clot,” he says.

    Capable of dissolving or extracting clots and delivering medication, the NeuroInterventions system takes a shorter, faster path to the brain. With exceptional maneuverability for negotiating the circulatory system, “Our devices will benefit patients, physicians, hospitals and insurance companies by improving outcomes through shorter, more effective treatment; by permitting more complex procedures; and by reducing recovery times.”

    Based in Pittsburgh, NeuroInterventions is prototyping a family of patent-pending catheters for addressing deep vein thrombosis, carotid stenting, and traumatic brain injury, in addition to stroke. The technology also facilitates localized drug and stem cell delivery.

    On the management team are world leaders in interventional radiology, neurology and neurosurgery, as well as successful entrepreneurs, among them: Lawrence Wechsler, M.D., chair of the Department of Neurology and director of the Stroke Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Mark H. Wholey, M.D., founder and director of the Pittsburgh Vascular Institute; Tudor Jovin, M.D., co-director of the Center for Neuroendovascular Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Ender Finol, Ph.D., associate research professor for the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems and Biomedical Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University; and Dr. Migliuolo, a high-tech entrepreneur and former executive in residence at the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse.

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