When a clot blocks an artery leading to or inside the brain, injury can occur rapidly to areas starved of blood flow from the heart. Using the Penumbra System™, UC Irvine interventional neurologist Dr. Shuichi Suzuki is able to aim a micro-catheter at a clot and remove it, allowing blood to flow through the vessel freely.
In the simulation above, the microcatheter tip at left probes and breaks up the red clot-like material at right, aspirating it from the tube with a vacuum pump. In a patient, Dr. Suzuki would then remove the catheter, restoring blood flow to the brain.
