A small, experimental study, published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR) in August, suggests that the Aperio System (Acandis Medical) seems to be an “efficient and safe” addition to the existing repertoire of clot-removal devices. The study compared the device with the Solitaire FR/AB (eV3/Covidien) device in a swine model.
Christian Roth, Clinic for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Homburg, Germany, and colleagues, compared the two stroke devices for safety and efficacy in swine with a weight of 35–50 kg following established models. Both the devices are self-expanding stent retrievers and Roth et al write in the AJNR paper that there have been several studies now showing promising results achieved with the use of self-expandable intracranial stents in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke.
Investigators prepared radiopaque experimental thrombi by using a new flow model (Thrombus Loop) and these were then cut into lengths of 10mm and injected into the target vessel. The occlusion was angiographically verified and rated with the help of the Thrombolysis In Cerebral Infarction (TICI score). They then carried out 23 procedures with the Aperio device and 18 procedures with the Solitaire AB and FR devices.
The authors wrote that control angiograms were obtained at three and five minutes after device deployment to evaluate the flow restoration. The number of attempts to reach a TICI 2/3 score was recorded, as well as the time to recanalisation and the device-related complications. They also defined vasospasm, vascular perforation, intramural arterial dissection, or embolization of a previously uninvolved territory as a device-related complication.
Results from the study showed that both devices demonstrated a high recanalisation rate of 100% (TICI 3) in the target vessel and that there were no device-related complications. This led the authors to conclude that radiopaque thrombi of whole blood with a defined diameter could be reliably created by using the Thrombus Loop and that there were no significant differences found between the safety and effectiveness of the Aperio System and Solitaire FR/AB.
