KALAMAZOO, Michigan, USA, Feb. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the indication for Stryker's Trevo Retriever as a front-line treatment for patients experiencing acute ischemic stroke up to 24 hours from symptom onset – increasing the treatment window by 18 hours. The expanded indication of Stryker's clot-removal device is in line with the recently updated treatment guidelines from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, and has the potential to reduce disability and improve quality of life for tens of thousands of additional stroke patients each year.

"The 24-hour indication opens the treatment window to patients whose stroke would previously have progressed until all the brain tissue surrounding the affected arteries was dead, leaving them with a life of significant disabilities," said Dr. Raul Nogueira of Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory University. "These patients now have a much better chance for an independent life without disability."

Stryker's Trevo Retriever is the first and only thrombectomy device to receive FDA clearance to significantly reduce disability in patients up to 24 hours from symptom onset. Until now, mechanical thrombectomy devices like the Trevo Retriever were only cleared for use up to six hours from symptom onset – leaving a significant population of stroke patients ineligible to receive treatment. However, recent randomized clinical data from the Stryker-sponsored DAWN Trial shows that patients presenting in the six- to 24-hour window who meet specific imaging criteria and are treated with the Trevo Retriever are almost four times as likely to be functionally independent at 90 days post-stroke, compared to those treated with medical management alone.1
"This expanded indication for Trevo marks a significant milestone in the treatment of stroke patients who suffer from this catastrophic disease," said Mark H. Paul, president of Stryker's Neurovascular division. "We believed this future was possible, which is why we invested in the DAWN Trial. Through our efforts to help patients suffering from ischemic stroke, we are living our mission to make healthcare better."

"FDA clearance of the Trevo Retriever has effectively quadrupled the treatment window from zero-six hours to zero-24 hours from time last seen well. Nonetheless, every minute still matters because in each individual patient, the earlier the blood flow is restored to the brain, the lower the resultant burden of permanent brain damage. Therefore, it is still imperative that all caregivers in the stroke pathway – from EMS to emergency room physicians to stroke neurologists to interventionalists – continue to deliver the fastest and most workflow-efficient treatment of stroke," said Dr. Tudor Jovin, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

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