California based Penumbra Inc. has won a surprisingly speedy approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a tiny vacuum cleaner for the brain.
The new treatment, which will be formally presented at the upcoming meeting of the American Stroke Association, suctions out clogged arteries in the brain in an effort to prevent strokes.

One perplexing question, however, deciding which patients are the right candidates for the procedure. Oddly enough, for some unclogging arteries isn't always the best option.


"Is the patient at a stage of stroke where you're going to hurt them by pulling a clot out, or show benefit?" asks Dr. Walter Koroshetz of the National Institutes of Health. "It's good we have devices. Now we have to learn how to use them."

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