Every year, 6,600 people in the UK suffer a brain haemorrhage from a ruptured aneurysm, killing 40% of them and leaving another 40% with severe neurological disabilities. These deaths and disabilities are entirely preventable if the aneurysm is caught and treated early. The current standard treatment—inserting metal coils into the aneurysm—works poorly for wide-necked or complex aneurysms, where coils can dislodge and cause strokes. Flow-diverters, stent-like devices that redirect blood flow away from the aneurysm, should solve this but have higher complication rates because their braided-mesh design opens unevenly, sits poorly against the vessel wall, and can itself trigger thrombosis. OxiFlow is a next-generation hybrid flow-diverter that aims to treat all aneurysm types, regardless of size or shape. If successful, it could reduce surgical complications, improve patient recovery, and lower healthcare costs by replacing multiple device types with a single, more reliable tool. The impact would be felt directly in hospital wards and operating theatres, where neurosurgeons would have a safer option for the most difficult aneurysms, and in the lives of thousands of patients who would otherwise face catastrophic brain injury or death.
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Annually 6,600 UK citizens suffer a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) resulting from a ruptured intracranial aneurysm (IA), with 40% mortality and 40% morbidity (severe neurological disabilities). However, SAHs are entirely avoidable through early intervention. Over the last decades, IA standard-of-care has moved from invasive, risky, and expensive open surgeries (clipping) to less-risky and more efficient minimally invasive endovascular coiling. Here metal coils are inserted into the aneurysm to prevent growth and rupture. However, for wide-necked, large, and complex aneurysms, coils can dislodge and migrate into the parent artery, leading to thrombosis and stroke. To address this challenge, stents are placed over the aneurysm neck. However, this is expensive and introduces new risks, such as stent-associated thrombosis. Flow-diverters (FDs) are 'stent-like' devices that are placed over the aneurysm to divert blood flow, thereby preventing growth/rupture and enabling natural healing. By their nature, FDs have the potential to effectively treat wide-necked, large, and complex aneurysms. However, FDs have failed to live up to expectations, reporting higher complication rates than coiling. Limitations are inherent to the FD braided-mesh design, driving weak and non-uniform radial forces, resulting in incomplete device opening, poor vessel apposition and conformity, and variable porosity; leading to poor deployment/placement accuracy (surgical complications), suboptimal aneurysm occlusion and endothelialisation (healing), and device migration and FD-associated thrombosis/stroke. These performance and safety limitations/risks restrict use for many aneurysm types. OxiFlow is a next-generation 'hybrid' flow-diverter design, enabling efficient treatment of all aneurysm-types, regardless of size and shape, with reduced surgical complications, improved patient outcomes, and healthcare efficiencies.
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