On January 30th we reported here the approval to use Covidien’s Solitaire™FR revascularisation device on an investigational basis in the US Interventional Management of Stroke (IMSIII) study.
Now it has been reported at the American Stroke Association’s 2012 international conference in New Orleans that use of the device in an earlier study dramatically outperformed the standard mechanical treatment, according to research presented by UCLA Stroke Center director Dr. Jeffrey L. Saver.
In the so-called “SWIFT” trial, (SOLITAIRE With the Intention for Thrombectomy), researchers randomly assigned 113 stroke patients at 18 hospitals to receive either SOLITAIRE or MERCI therapy within eight hours of stroke onset, between January 2010 and February 2011. The most striking results showed that 58 percent of SOLITAIRE-treated patients had good mental/motor functioning at 90 days, compared with 33 percent of MERCI patients. The SOLITARE device also opened more vessels when used as the first treatment approach, necessitating fewer subsequent attempts with other devices or drugs.
At the suggestion of a safety monitoring committee, the trial was ended nearly a year earlier than planned due to significantly better outcomes with the experimental device.
The article, published on Medical News Today, can be found here.
A superb animation (6.4Mb) showing the device in action can be found here.
Source: Medical News Today
published: February 6, 2012 in: Clinical Studies/Trials, Covidien, Neuro, Techniques, USA