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Use of a catheter-based balloon device to partially occlude the abdominal aorta is a novel strategy to increase cerebral perfusion and, potentially, salvage at-risk brain tissue in patients with ischemic stroke. Researchers have now tested this strategy in a clinical trial known as SENTIS, funded by the manufacturer of the NeuroFlo catheter device. During a period of more than 4 years, 515 patients with acute ischemic stroke were randomized, within 14 hours of symptom onset, to placement of the NeuroFlo device or to standard medical therapy. The investigators used abdominal aortograms to confirm suitability for device placement in the NeuroFlo group. Then patients in that group underwent catheter placement; the balloon was kept inflated for…