Penumbra’s CAVT to Treat LE-ALI Studied in THRIVE

June 9, 2025—Penumbra, Inc. announced that data from the THRIVE study demonstrated the potential of the company’s computer assisted vacuum thrombectomy (CAVT) technology to improve outcomes for patients with lower extremity acute limb ischemia (LE-ALI) and reduce health care resource use.

The THRIVE study compared CAVT to embolectomy alone and embolectomy with adjunctive bypass. According to the company, the data showed that United States patients who underwent a CAVT procedure to manage LE-ALI had significantly shorter lengths of stays, higher discharge-to-home rates, reduced complications, and fewer related readmissions compared to other modalities.

The findings were presented by Charles Bailey, MD, at the Society for Vascular Surgery’s Vascular Annual Meeting. Dr. Bailey is Medical Director of the Limb Preservation & Peripheral Arterial Disease Program at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.

As summarized in Penumbra’s press release, CAVT was associated with a 99.1% limb salvage rate, a 2.3- to 2.4-times lower amputation rate, a 46% to 75% higher rate of patients discharged to home, a 26% to 46% shorter total hospital length of stay, and a 33% to 55% lower 30-day rate of LE-ALI–related readmissions, excluding mortality.

“The THRIVE analysis reveals that LE-ALI patients who receive advanced therapies, such as CAVT, ultimately experience fewer complications and utilize fewer hospital resources compared to embolectomy,” commented Dr. Bailey in Penumbra’s press release. “By showing important benefits for both patient care and health care system economics, these findings support the continued adoption of CAVT as a frontline therapy for LE-ALI.”

Penumbra stated that the investigators performed the analysis by utilizing the Vizient Clinical database to identify adult patients discharged with LE-ALI during a 3-year period.

Sg2, a Vizient Inc. company, used propensity-score matching at a 1:1 ratio based on demographics, comorbidities, payer, and hospital type to match CAVT patients (Penumbra’s Lightning 7 and Lightning 12) to embolectomy alone and embolectomy with adjunctive bypass patients and completed the analysis with 2,619 total patients, noted Penumbra.