Clot-snatching stroke treatment gets the green light

clot snatcher

Snatching blood clots from the brain with a wire mesh stent is a new stroke treatment that is now supported in the United States.

MEDTRONIC

Doctors may soon use a small device to snatch blood clots from the brain. On June 29, the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association issued guidelines recommending the use of the treatment in the most severe stroke cases. The recommendation comes after publication of five research articles in the past six months that show the treatment’s effectiveness.

For more on the treatment, read SN‘s “Snagging blood clots upgrades stroke care.”

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.