First-in-human stroke trial reads blood clots from the inside

Scientists at the University of Galway have taken part in a first-in-human study of stroke patients using a thin wire fitted with sensors to assess and map their clots.

The study involved the use of a guidewire called Clotild, which has been developed by medtech company Sensome. It can navigate arteries through a catheter, with tiny electrical sensors built into its tip, moving through a clot and continuously measuring how well different tissues conduct a small current. Red blood cells, platelets and arterial walls each have distinct electrical “fingerprints” that can be individually identified in real time by the device’s prediction model.

Some 41 people who had suffered a large-vessel occlusion stroke were enrolled in the trial at hospitals in Australia and France to assess the device’s performance and how it reports the clot.

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