Reviving and Recovering (cont.)

A FULL LIFE RESTORED

Mrs. Wecker's MRI had located the blood clot in a vessel on the left side of her brain. Prof. Bendszus inserted the REVIVE™ SE Device into her groin with a microcatheter and guided it up an artery to the blockage area while watching the image on a screen. The device's mesh basket expanded, pushing the clot against the vessel wall and restoring blood flow to the brain. Prof. Bendszus then retrieved and removed the blood clot that caused Mrs. Wecker's stroke and the complete paralysis of her right side. Before the procedure, neurologists had also administered the standard treatment for ischemic stroke, tPA, a clot-dissolving drug.

The next day, Mrs. Wecker was served potatoes and roast pork for lunch, but no one had cut up the meat for her. “So I tried cutting up the meat myself, and my hand worked,” she says. “The day before, I couldn't move my hand, and now I was cutting schweinebraten!” When Mrs. Wecker's husband and son visited, “We couldn't believe she was sitting there, waving and smiling at us, and that she could speak perfectly fine,” Mr. Wecker says. She left the hospital six days after her stroke, not needing rehabilitation.

Once home, Mrs. Wecker resumed her full lifestyle, working as a tax adviser, visiting her grandchildren and enjoying her garden. “I can do everything I did before,” she says. “The operation took just 25 minutes, and it probably saved my life.”