Ischemic Stroke: Prying Open the Treatment Window

Article preview from Medtech Insight- May 2010

At this year's International Stroke Conference in San Antonio, some exciting device-based therapies and approaches were discusssed--including advanced imaging, multimodal therapy and stent-like thrombectomy devices--that may offer improved outcomes for patients that suffer an acute ischemic stroke.

Ischemic Stroke: Prying Open the Treatment Window

Article preview from Medtech Insight - May 2010

Since the mid 1990s, expanding the therapeutic window and speeding time to blood flow restoration (recanalization) have been the driving forces for researchers, drug developers, device manufacturers, and health care providers active in the acute ischemic stroke (AIS) arena. And although the field has been slow moving, the past few years have witnessed great strides in this area, generating new hope for stroke patients. At this year's International Stroke Conference (ISC) held in San Antonio in February, some exciting device-based therapies and approaches were discussed that may offer improved outcomes for patients that suffer an AIS. Advanced imaging, multimodal therapy, and novel endovascular tools—most notably new, stent-like thrombectomy devices—are attracting a great deal of interest for their potential to pry open the therapeutic window for stroke. Some of these advances may ultimately change the stroke treatment paradigm and could greatly improve the outlook for this devastating disease.

A Market in Need

The stroke community has been frustrated for years by the lack of truly effective treatment options for AIS that can be used safely in a wide variety of patients. Certainly the need is significant. Every 40 seconds, someone in the US suffers a stroke and 87% of those events are ischemic strokes—associated with blocked blood flow to the brain. The annual stroke incidence now adds up to some 795,000 new or recurrent strokes each year, and that number is sure to increase as the population ages. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the US and the leading cause of disability among adults, and according to the American Heart Association, the financial impact of stroke, including direct and indirect costs, is estimated at $73.7 billion in 2010.

Although prognosticators have compared the market for stroke management products to interventional cardiology, saying stroke is another "blockbuster" market just waiting to happen, for many reasons, this blockbuster market has been slow to materialize.

Developing products for ischemic stroke is a difficult and complicated task and more than a few competitors over the years have either exited the space or shied away from it entirely. But all that may be about to change as a new generation of endovascular tools enters the scene, offering the potential for rapid stroke resolution and greatly improved patient outcomes.

-Anne Staylor & Mary Thompson 


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