PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Each year, more than 700,000 people are hospitalized with blood clots. Many times, clots lodge in the leg but travel to the coronary artery blocking blood flow to the heart. Now, researchers are testing a first-of-its kind catheter that breaks up and delivers clot-busting medication right to the source.
This is the Bashir Endovascular Catheter, named after Riyaz Bashir MD, FACC, Professor of Medicine, Director Vascular and Endovascular Medicine at Temple University Hospital who designed it.
Doctor Bashir said, “This 50 centimeter blood clot breaks loose and travels to the lung and gets packed into a ten centimeter long blood vessel.”
When inserted into a blood vessel, the device expands helping dissolve clots that stop blood flow to the heart.
William Auger, MD, a CTEPH Specialist at Temple University Hospital said, “The right side of our heart is not built to deal with that massive sudden occlusion of the coronary artery.”
For years, doctors used small catheters to dissolve a clot. But the Bashir Endovascular Catheter expands into six tiny catheters to both open the clot and deliver anti-coagulants.
Doctor Bashir told Ivanhoe, “What I wanted to do is some way develop a channel in the middle of the clot. Bring a patient’s own clot-dissolving chemicals into the clot.”
Then, the Bashir catheter quickly delivers anti-coagulants by deploying a kind of spinning basket loaded with meds.
Doctor Bashir said, “The basket expands in a spiral fashion. And when it does, that spiral twists and creates a big channel in the middle of the clot.”
A first-of-its kind treatment option designed to restore blood flow-faster than ever.
Temple University has just begun an FDA-approved feasibility study to evaluate the safety of this catheter in the treatment of acute pulmonary embolisms. The Bashir™ Endovascular Catheter is currently cleared for the controlled and selective infusion of fluids, including clot-dissolving medications, into the peripheral veins and arteries, such as the legs. It’s also important to note that doctor Bashir has equity interest in Thrombolex, the medical device company developing the interventional catheter.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Supervising Producer; Donna Parker, Field Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer and Editor.