DISTALS Results Presented for Rapid Medical Tigertriever 13 in MVO Stroke

February 9, 2026—Rapid Medical announced late-breaking results from the DISTALS trial evaluating the company’s Tigertriever 13 device for the treatment of patients with medium vessel occlusion (MVO) ischemic stroke. The findings were presented at the 2026 International Stroke Conference.

According to the company, results from the DISTALS multicenter, randomized controlled trial showed that thrombectomy with Tigertriever 13, a distal-specific thrombectomy system designed to actively adjust to vessel anatomy during deployment and retrieval, achieved superior brain tissue reperfusion with a favorable safety profile versus medical management in patients with MVO stroke. Treatment success was assessed using CT perfusion imaging.

Top-line data presented in the press release showed that patients treated with Tigertriever 13 achieved a threefold higher rate of successful reperfusion without symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) compared to medical management (86.3% vs 27.7%; P < .001). No sICH events were reported in the randomized treatment arm treated with Tigertriever 13. By comparison, the company noted that sICH rates reported with intravenous thrombolysis alone range from 2% to 6% in contemporary trials.

“DISTALS was purpose-built for distal stroke, pairing a device engineered for small, fragile vessels with a tissue-based endpoint designed to measure meaningful brain reperfusion,” said Jeffrey L. Saver, MD, Principal Investigator of DISTALS, in the press release.

“Most thrombectomy complications occur during retrieval, when excess tension can injure delicate vessels,” said Rishi Gupta, MD, Principal Investigator of DISTALS. “Tigertriever 13 actively reduces force before and during retrieval, adapting to distal anatomy to minimize vessel stress.”

According to the company, no thrombectomy device had previously demonstrated safe flow restoration in randomized trials for MVO stroke. The distal-first design of Tigertriever 13 combined with tissue-level endpoints was intended to provide a more clinically meaningful assessment of reperfusion in this population.

Rapid Medical stated that full study findings will be presented at a future meeting.