UK developed "shape-memory" device to improve brain aneurysm treatment

Researchers at University of Oxford spinout firm Oxford Endovascular have developed a shape memory alloy implant that they claim could lead to a major improvement in the treatment of brain aneurysms.

The device, which was designed by Prof James Byrne from Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, and Prof Zhong You from the University’s Department of Engineering, is made from a special laser-cut shape-memory alloy which can be posted into a catheter during surgery, inserted into the brain and opened up into a tiny mesh tube that fits into the natural shape of the blood vessel. This diverts the blood away from the aneurysm, allowing it to heal.

The device has been tested and optimised using computer models of the way blood moves through vessels and preclinical testing has shown that it is likely to work in the body. The next step is to use £2m raised from investors including Oxford Sciences Innovation PLC to take the device through clinical trials.