DISTALS Trial of Rapid Medical’s Tigertriever 13 Completes Enrollment

December 9, 2025—Rapid Medical announced the completion of patient enrollment in the multicenter, randomized DISTALS trial assessing the company’s Tigertriever 13 device to treat patients with distal medium vessel occlusions (DMVO) in acute ischemic stroke.

In June 2022, the company announced the enrollment of the first patient in the study.

According to Rapid Medical, the Tigertriever 13 thrombectomy device, which has received both European CE Mark approval and United States FDA clearance, is purpose-built for distal interventions with an adjustable design that can actively remove tension from the vessel during clot retrieval, allowing physicians to minimize shear forces on delicate distal arteries. A previously announced interim safety analysis of DISTALS reported no safety concerns, supporting the use of Tiger 13 use in fragile distal territories, noted the company.

Principal Investigators of the DISTALS trial are Jeffrey Saver, MD, of UCLA Health in Los Angeles, California; Rishi Gupta, MD, of Wellstar Health System in Marietta, Georgia; Professor René Chapot, MD, of Alfried Krupp Krankenhaus in Essen, Germany; and David Fiorella, MD, of Stony Brook University Medical Center in Stony Brook, New York.

“Tiger 13 is the only device I trust for distal stroke thrombectomy,” commented Dr. Gupta in Rapid Medical’s press release. “Its design meets the real-world demands of small, highly tortuous distal vessels. We cannot rely on devices built for proximal occlusions to solve a distal problem—dedicated engineering is essential, and Tiger 13 delivers it.”

Dr. Saver added, “DMVO strokes represent up to 40% of ischemic strokes and can cause significant disability, yet their treatment has remained uncertain. Recent neutral results from ESCAPE-MEVO and DISTAL made one thing clear: distal thrombectomy requires devices and trials specifically engineered for distal vessels. Tiger 13 and DISTALS bring that dedicated design. Completing enrollment is a major step toward evidence that can truly advance care for these patients.”