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Letter
Letter regarding:How much will a catheter tip expand in aspiration thrombectomy?
  1. Yang Liu,
  2. David F Kallmes
  1. Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Yang Liu, Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA; Liu.Yang2{at}mayo.edu

https://doi.org/10.1136/neurintsurg-2021-017856

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    We read with great interest the recent paper by Li et al, which concluded that the tip of an aspiration catheter can expand to 115–125% of its original inner diameter (ID) when corked by a clot analog, creating an ‘aspiration force’ 61–99% higher than the theoretical value based on the labelled ID.1 We want to congratulate the authors on this novel finding, but also want to respectfully present our disagreement on the method to quantify the expansion of catheter tip ID and the interpretation of the measured force.

    The authors hypothesized that firm clots, when being aspirated into soft aspiration catheters, may actually expand the catheter tips. If correct, this expansion would lead to enhanced aspiration force, which is proportional to tip area, and thus potentially increase efficacy of clot extraction. However, instead of directly measuring catheter tip diameter when aspirating firm clots, the authors applied an indirect measure of tip area using a stiff cone-shaped 3D-printed resin clot analog. First, the authors measured the force required to …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors Both authors conceptualized the study and wrote and revised the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests YL: Consulting: Endovascular Engineering. DFK: Ownership/stockholder: Marblehead Medical, Superior Medical Experts, NeuroSigma; Research support: MicroVention, Medtronic, NeuroSigma, NeuroVasx, MiVi Neurovascular, Insera Therapeutics; Data Safety Monitoring Board: Vesalio, NoNO.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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