In Acute Ischemic Stroke, New Devices Top Merci Retriever

(HealthDay News) – New devices may be superior to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved Merci Retriever for flow restoration in acute ischemic stroke.

Jeffrey L. Saver, MD, from the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues compared the efficacy and safety of the Solitaire Flow Restoration Device (58 patients) with the Merci Retrieval System (55 patients) in acute ischemic stroke with moderate to severe neurologic deficits. The researchers found that significantly more patients achieved the primary efficacy outcome in the Solitaire group (61 vs. 24%; odds ratio [OR], 4.87). More patients had good three-month neurologic outcome with Solitaire (OR, 2.78), and the 90-day mortality was lower (OR, 0.34).

Raul G. Nogueira, MD, from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and colleagues compared the efficacy and safety of the new stent-like Trevo Retriever (88 patients) with the Merci Retriever (90 patients) for large vessel occlusion strokes. Participants were recruited from February–December 2011. The researchers found that 86% of the Trevo group and 60% in the Merci group met the primary end point (OR, 4.22). The incidence of a composite of procedure-related adverse events was similar for both groups.

“Patients who have had large vessel occlusion strokes but are ineligible for (or refractory to) intravenous tissue plasminogen activator should be treated with the Trevo Retriever in preference to the Merci Retriever,” Nogueira and colleagues write

Several authors from both studies disclosed financial ties to medical device companies, including Covidien/ev3, which funded the first study, and Stryker Neurovascular, which funded the second study.

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