Artedrone’s autonomous microrobot shows promise for stroke treatment in preclinical studies

Medical device company Artedrone announced promising results from a series of in vitro and animal studies showing its autonomous microrobotic system, SASHA, can successfully perform mechanical thrombectomy (MT) procedures, potentially revolutionizing access to stroke care.

Mechanical thrombectomy — the removal of a blood clot from a brain artery — is the standard of care for acute ischemic stroke (AIS), which impacts over 11.5 million people annually. While patients treated within six hours of stroke onset can have outcomes three times better than those who aren’t, access to timely MT remains limited. Most procedures today are confined to specialized Thrombectomy Stroke Centers, leaving many patients without life-saving care.

Artedrone’s microrobotic system, SASHA, could help change that. Powered by autonomous magnetic micro-robots, the SASHA system is designed to enable non-neurospecialist clinicians, such as cardiologists and radiologists, to perform MT procedures. The goal: make this advanced intervention available in more hospitals around the world.

“Despite the severe burden of large vessel strokes globally, there is limited access to life-saving treatments for patients,” said Artedrone CEO Liane Teplitsky. “These results bring us one step closer to our goal of bringing cutting-edge technology to market that will democratize complex stroke interventions, which will dramatically change the treatment landscape.”

The company’s preclinical studies tested the SASHA system in various models, including in vitro human cerebral vasculature and in vivo porcine cerebral anatomy. In these tests, the microrobot’s ability to retrieve both synthetic and biologically derived clots was evaluated through pre- and post-procedure assessments of vessel perfusion.

“Mechanical thrombectomy is by far the most efficient treatment for large vessel stroke but is currently highly underused due to the fact that it is often only performed at specialized stroke centers, which denies life-saving treatment access to millions of patients,” said Frédéric Clarençon, head of the Department of Interventional Neuroradiology at Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital and a principal investigator on the study. “We’re encouraged by these preclinical results and will be conducting additional studies to advance SASHA as a means to expand access to mechanical thrombectomy for stroke patients around the world.”

Results from the studies are being submitted to a peer-reviewed research journal.