Feb. 06, 2004 - 19:15 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Medical Technology

Even though the world seems to coming apart much like Janet Jackson's costume, there are some things both new and good that are happening. Research goes on and new things come to light.

The latest I have seen is an article from the Associated Press in our paper February 6, 2003.

"'Corkscrew' Into The Brain turns out to remove stroke-causing blood clots."

A tiny micro-catheter is inserted from the leg to the brain and when near enough to the clot a corkscrew is extruded, I guess is the term, from the micro catheter and when the corkscrew is turned deploys and latches on to the blood clot. The blood clot is pulled out gently.

It is easy for me to imagine the amount of CAT Scan - MRI equipment used to follow the path of the micro-catheter from the leg up through the maze of arteries into the brain and then guided by that method to the blood clot.

"Dr. Sidney Starkman, co-director of the UCLA Stroke Center directed testing of the corkscrew -- called the Merci Retrieval System -- on 109 patients. All had suffered severe strokes within eight hours."

Nothing is ever 100 percent in man's doings nor is this development. Figures give the results. "The corkscrew successfully retrieved the clot in half of them (54). Three quarters of these patients survived (40) and 40 percent had few or no lasting disabilities (16)." "Among those in whom the clot could not be removed (54), half survived (27) and just 6 percent ( Less than 2) had a good recovery."

The figures were derived from the percentages - not too swift on those. If my figures are near right I think it shows that this procedure is worth investigating further. Also it seems to me that success in grabbing a clot depends on the consistency of it. Following the natural progression of these things I think, "Starkman's study was financed by the corkscrew's maker, Concentric Medical of Mountain View, California, which has applied for Food and Drug Administration approval to sell the device. The National Institutes of Health will sponsor a larger study of the device."

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Not quite verbatim and my figures might not be so good either but think they are close. But all improvements and advancements come with difficulty and I think that to risk no benefit against the gain already shown somewhat successful would be something this man would take. Couldn't hurt, might help.

Good news from Medical Technology . . . . . . . .

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