Smart wire maps stroke clots in real time

The wire, called Clotild, was developed by medical technology company Sensome. It is inserted into blood vessels through a catheter, while tiny sensors at its tip measure the electrical properties of the surrounding tissue as the wire passes through the clot.

Red blood cells, platelets and the arterial wall have different electrical properties, allowing the device to distinguish between them during the procedure. This could provide physicians with information about the clot’s composition, location and size—details that are typically available only after the clot has been removed and examined in a laboratory.

The trial involved about 41 patients who had suffered strokes caused by blockages in large blood vessels at hospitals in Australia and France. The study aimed to assess the device’s safety and accuracy.

The results showed no cases of blood vessel perforation or dissection. The device also achieved an accuracy of 0.97 in identifying red blood cell-rich clots and 0.94 in identifying platelet-rich clots, on a scale where 1.0 represents perfect accuracy.

The device was also able to identify the arterial wall and the far end of the clot, potentially helping physicians estimate the clot’s length without the need to inject a contrast agent. Researchers were additionally able to create a map of the clot’s composition based on measurements recorded as the device passed through it. The resulting maps were consistent with microscopic analyses of clot samples performed after removal.

The technology could be significant because the composition of a clot may influence how it should be removed. Clots rich in red blood cells differ from those dominated by platelets. However, physicians generally cannot determine the composition of a clot before treatment begins.

The trial was led by Dr Andrew Cheung from Australia and Émeric Rousseaud from France, with participation from Professor Karen Doyle of the University of Galway and the RCSI Centre for Medical Devices. The findings were published in the journal NeuroInterventional Surgery.

Doyle said that knowing a clot’s composition in real time could eventually help physicians tailor treatment methods to individual patients. Cheung said the trial demonstrated that the technology could be safely integrated into stroke treatment procedures.