Complete Stroke Care

In 2011, Stryker entered the stroke market with the acquisition of its neurovascular business, quickly followed by acquisitions that broadened its presence in this market with Concentric Medical and then, in 2012, Surpass Medical.

While its other businesses focus on enhancing caregivers' and patients' lives, the neurovascular business focuses on saving lives with a robust offering for Complete Stroke Care.

"Brain aneurysms are very devastating," explains Ajay K. Wakhloo, M.D., Ph.D., University of Massachusetts. "Once ruptured, they can cause death in up to 30 percent of patients, leaving another 30 percent with severe neurological deficit – memory loss and other stroke-like symptoms. What's more, the impact of the disease puts an enormous strain on the patients' families."

The Surpass Flow Diverter is a game changer for patients, for the market and for Stryker. "It allows for the treatment of complex brain aneurysms that previously could not have been treated by standard surgical or minimally invasive endovascular methods," says Dr. Wakhloo.

Using a unique mesh design and delivery system, flow diverters redirect blood flow away from the aneurysm, allowing a stable clot to be formed within the aneurysm pouch. They are approved in Europe, where their most compelling indication is for giant aneurysms – a condition that has an alarming probability of rupture within five years in up to 50 percent of diagnosed patients.

Seeing the product's great potential, Stryker is investing in a pre-market clinical study as a step toward regulatory approval in the U.S., while also expanding the product line to meet other critical needs. "The development of the Surpass Flow Diverter is a perfect demonstration of how basic science, engineering and clinical medicine experts share their knowledge and cooperate to solve an important problem," says Dr. Joost de Vries, Director of Neuroendovascular Surgery, University of Nijmegen, Netherlands.