Atraumatic thrombectomy

Removing a clot from a vein sounds simple, but the tools that do it can leave damage behind. Conventional mechanical thrombectomy devices scrape, macerate, or drag thrombus along the vessel — and in doing so can abrade the vein wall and pull on the delicate one-way valves that keep blood moving in the right direction. In the deep veins of the leg, that collateral trauma is a real cost: damaged valves can lead to long-term problems well after the original clot is gone.

Principal Medical's atraumatic thrombectomy device is designed around a different idea — capture the clot without dragging against the vessel.

How it works

The device is built around a net carried on two rods, controlled from a handle that stays outside the patient. One rod is fixed; the second is coupled to a knob on the handle. The rods and net are advanced through a vessel-entry sheath to the site of the clot in a collapsed position, so nothing is deployed until the device is in place.

To capture the clot, the clinician turns the knob. The moving rod sweeps gently around the inside of the vessel, carrying the netting material along the vessel wall; a full rotation brings the rods back into opposition and closes the net around the thrombus. Rather than pushing or scraping the clot forward, the device is designed to encapsulate it. The whole apparatus — net and captured clot together — is then withdrawn through the original entry point.

Designed to protect the vein and its valves

The "atraumatic" in the name is a design goal, built into the geometry. The two rods carry paired curved segments that are designed to face away from the vessel wall — concave outward — so that as the device is inserted, swept, and removed, it opposes the wall gently rather than digging into it. The intent is to net the clot "without creating abrasion on the walls of the veins or pressures pulling on the valves," so a patient is spared the vein and valve trauma that can accompany clot removal.

An option to infuse where needed

A variant of the design uses a hollowed rod with side holes, so that thrombolytic medication can be delivered locally during the procedure — bringing clot-dissolving therapy to the site while the net is in place. It is one more way the platform is designed to fit how clinicians actually manage clot, rather than forcing a single approach.