Rapid Medical’s Tigertriever Evaluated in Complex Ischemic Stroke Patients with ICAD

November 16, 2023—Rapid Medical, a developer of neurovascular devices, announced new data demonstrating first-pass treatment success with the company’s Tigertriever device in complex ischemic stroke patients with underlying intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD), with negligible complication rates.

The study showed that 78% of ICAD patients achieved successful reperfusion without further intervention; additionally, 47% achieved recanalization on the first pass. This study is a subanalysis of the prospective TIGER multicenter trial.

The findings were reported at the 2023 Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology annual meeting held November 16-18 in Miami Beach, Florida, and published by Diego J. Ojeda et al online in Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery.

Edgar Samaniego, MD, an endovascular neurologist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, led the study.

According to Rapid Medical, results with the Tigertriever in ICAD rival results seen in non-ICAD patients. The high first-pass success rates allowed for fast procedure times, with a groin-to-revascularization median time of 22 minutes. Notably, 50% of patients had a good clinical outcome, defined as modified Rankin Scale 0 to 2 at 90 days, stated the company.

In addition to successful reperfusion, Tigertriever significantly dilated the artery so that no patient required permanent stenting. Furthermore, patients included in the study did not experience symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, vessel dissection, or embolic complications because the device can be contracted to minimize disruption to the plaque and arteries during removal.

“Patients with ICAD experiencing a stroke are very challenging to treat and often need rescue therapy such as stenting,” commented Dr. Samaniego in the company’s press release. “We achieved very high treatment success and lasting results with Tigertriever alone that we haven’t seen with other devices. We attribute this to Tigertriever’s unique ability to open and dilate these blocked vessels, a new term we call stentplasty.”

Dr. Samaniego continued, “Physicians now have a better and faster treatment option for patients with severely narrowed, stenotic arteries. Tigertriever provides a higher rate of successful reperfusion, reduced complications, and a needed angioplasty-like effect compared with historical studies that utilized other mechanical thrombectomy devices.”

In March 2021, Rapid Medical announced FDA clearance of the Tigertriever for use in the treatment of ischemic stroke. The TIGER trial was presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2021, and trial findings were published by Rishi Gupta, MD, et al in Stroke (2021;52:1534-1544). Dr. Gupta and Jeffery L. Saver, MD, served as Principal Investigators of the TIGER trial.