As per Johns Hopkins Medicine, thrombosis happens when they're are blood clots blocking the veins or arteries. Symptoms may include leg pain and swelling, chest pain, and numbers of the body. Sadly, complications may be life-threatening, like stroke or heart attack.
The immediate response to the condition is to clear the blood clots to prevent these complications. However, they usually involve medications and typically take a lot of time. But the new experimental device developed by scientists at North Carolina State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology uses swirling waves of ultrasound to break up blood clots much faster.
Eliminating Blood Clots Using Vortex Ultrasound
The new device uses the technique called "vortex ultrasound," which is a type of ultrasonic tornado, that breaks down blood clots in the brain. According to New Atlas' report, the device is specifically designed for use on the cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) clots that form in veins that usually allow blood to drain from the brain.
Blood pressure rises in the brain when those veins are blocked, leading to a lethal or disabling hemorrhage. Most CVST treatments available rely on drugs to eliminate blood clots. However, this method takes about 29 hours on average and never less than 15 hours. In contrast, the new transducer could easily break down blood clots in less than 30 minutes.
They placed the device within a catheter that is surgically implanted into a vein and then fed through to the clot location. It emitted ultrasound pulses that spiral forward in a tornado-like pattern the moment it arrived at its location. The shear force created by these "vortex ultrasonic" waves is sufficient to break the clot apart rapidly and thoroughly.
This result is consistent with the findings of a recent Johns Hopkins Medicine study published in the journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering, which found that clots are less likely to develop in the heart when blood forms swirling vortices as it passes through the muscle
The transducer has also been tested on clots in a 3D-printed replica of the cerebral venous sinus area of the brain filled with cow blood. The waves were determined to be nontoxic to the vein walls, as well as causing no significant damage to red blood cells when applied in animal vein samples.
North Carolina State's Professor Xiaoning Jiang, the co-leader of the study, said that their next step is to do studies on animal models to better prove the efficacy of the device in treating CVST. If those trials are successful, then they could perhaps move to clinical trials.
More About CVST
CVST is a rare blood clot that affects the larger veins in the brain. According to Cleveland Clinic, it is so rare that it accounts for only 1% of the types of strokes. When the blood clot blocks the blood flow, it will go through the wrong way and increase the pressure in the brain which makes it swell.
The typical location of CVST includes the transverse sinus, superior sagittal sinus, inferior sagittal sinus, sigmoid sinuses, cavernous sinus, and deep sinuses in the cortex.
The condition often happens in women or people assigned female at birth, although it is most common among those in their 40s and 50s. People suffering from nephrotic syndrome, cancer, vasculitis, obesity, and COVID-19 are more likely to experience CVST.
RELATED ARTICLE: Unique Nanoparticle Platform Developed to Target Activated Neutrophils Linked Diabetes, Cancer, Vascular Thrombosis
Check out more news and information on Medicine & Health in Science Times.
