Benefits of Mechanical Thrombectomy Catheter Devices.

Benefits of Mechanical Thrombectomy Catheter Devices.
The benefits of mechanical thrombectomy techniques have mainly been demonstrated in short-term studies. In one such trial, the benefit of using thrombectomy devices alongside any adjuvant therapy was examined.16 With the exception of aspirin and thienopyridine, which are used to prevent stroke, combined usage of adjuvant therapy and thrombectomy provides no long-term improvements in left ventricular systolic function. This indicates that thrombectomy alone is sufficient to remove thrombolic occlusion in the coronary artery. The main improvement offered by mechanical thrombectomy over standard angioplasty is the reduction in risk of distal embolism. The balloon catheter has to pass directly through the thrombus in order to be inflated, which frequently leads to the breaking off of small fragments from the thrombus that can cause a blockage elsewhere. In a study examining the microcirculation between mechanical thrombectomy and angioplasty patients, the thrombectomy method resulted in higher flow rates due to the reduced risk of distal embolism.12 Occurrence of macroembolisation was also negligible with thrombectomy tested on both fresh and hardened thrombi.17 In addition, the procedure time of both thrombectomy and the standard balloon technique is extremely comparable. Hence, the thrombectomy technique fits into the tight time constraints in cardiac blockage. Thrombectomy also has advantages over thrombolytics. Administration of thrombolytic substances is time-consuming: the drugs take from one hour to 90 minutes to reduce the thrombus. This time delay exposes the patient to a 1% haemorrhagic stroke rate, which is an unacceptable risk.18