In late June, a cutting-edge medical technology known as “Milli-spinner Thrombectomy” quietly triggered heated discussions in the global neurology community. This new cerebrovascular intervention technology, jointly developed by Chinese and American scientists, has performed well in recent multi-center clinical trials, and may become a breakthrough point in the treatment of high-risk diseases such as stroke and pulmonary artery embolism, further promoting vascular intervention from the “stent era” into the “smart minimally invasive” era. “New Technology Unveiled
Millimeter Device to Achieve Accurate Thrombus Extraction
The core of the Milli-spinner Thrombectomy technology is a miniature rotary thrombectomy device with a diameter of less than 2 millimeters. Unlike traditional stent thrombectomy, the device can enter the tiny blood vessels with high-frequency rotation, and through the synergy of negative pressure and physical winding mechanism, the thrombus fragments will be captured completely and brought out safely.
According to the introduction, the Milli-spinner device consists of a flexible guidewire, a control chamber, and a high-torque micro-motor, with programmable rotational frequency and positioning function, showing high adaptability and safety when entering intracranial microvessels or pulmonary capillaries. It is especially suitable for complex areas such as brainstem vessels, retinal arteries, and pulmonary artery ends, which cannot be accessed by conventional stents.
“You can think of it as a ‘miniature rotary vacuum’ that gently but efficiently removes clogged areas rather than roughly prying open blood vessels.” Richard Irving, a professor of bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a media interview.
Simultaneous Trials in China and the U.S., Early Clinical Data Encouraging
After receiving FDA approval as a “breakthrough medical device” in early 2025, the technology quickly entered Phase I clinical trials. According to the New England Journal of Medicine recently disclosed, the United States Johns Hopkins Hospital, Cleveland Medical Center, and eight other hospitals involved in the pilot have completed 86 cases of surgery, preliminary data show:
- Vascular recanalization rate: as high as 92.4%, significantly better than similar technologies;
- Intraoperative time: reduced to an average of 27 minutes;
- Functional improvement within 7 days after surgery: patients’ NIHSS scores improved by an average of 3.8 points;
- Intraoperative complication rate: controlled within 2%.
At the same time, China’s State Drug Administration has given special approval to three units, including the Peking Union Medical College Hospital and the General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army, to carry out simultaneous clinical trials. In the recently announced trial of the first 10 cases in China, a number of patients immediately regained partial motor function of their limbs after surgery, with no serious postoperative adverse reactions, validating the feasibility of the technology.
“This is a major advance in the field of stroke intervention.” Wang Liewu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in neurology, said, “Its most prominent advantage is: it adapts to small vessels and reduces the risk of distal fragmentation.”
Why may it Become a “Replacement-Level” Innovation?
The Milli-spinner technology is considered to have three significant advantages over current mainstream stenting:
First, the device is ultra-small and flexible. The millimeter-sized device can travel through more delicate and tortuous vascular paths, greatly expanding the types of applicable lesions, especially in the precise treatment of small arteries and capillary thrombi, which is a unique advantage.
Secondly, the rotation mechanism is controllable, and the extraction integrity is high. Thanks to the micro-motor control system, the rotational strength and frequency can be precisely adjusted, avoiding vascular damage and secondary bleeding caused by over-aggressive thrombus extraction, and the fragmentation rate is less than 1%.
The third is the strong compatibility with the existing system, easy to popularize and promote. The catheter interface of this technology follows international standards, so doctors do not need to change the surgical platform or training system to quickly get started, significantly reducing the threshold of application.
“It has the potential to replace existing programs.” Benjamin Tooker, director of the Cerebrovascular Center at Harvard Medical School, pointed out at a symposium, “Like a scalpel moving from the Iron Age to a smart blade, its emergence opens up a whole new window for precision interventions.”
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense are Involved in the Push
Notably, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that it will provide an additional $12 million in funding in the fourth quarter of 2025 to support Phase II trials of the technology. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense has also publicly expressed interest in the technology’s promise for war-traumatic brain injury and internal hemorrhage control.
Philip Marshall, director of the Pentagon’s Center for Medical Research, revealed, “Battlefield cerebral hemorrhage and sudden stroke are one of the major health risks for military personnel after they retire from the military. The Milli-spinner’s high-efficiency, low-trauma characteristics have good potential for translation into military medicine.”
Global Collaboration and Regulatory Improvements Still Needed
Despite its promising future, the industry cautions against over-optimism. Currently, Milli-spinner still needs to be validated in more types of patients, especially in calcified thrombus, chronic obstruction, and other lesions, the applicability of which has yet to be clarified. In addition to establishing a perfect remote control system and intraoperative navigation synergy is also considered a technical bottleneck in the next stage.
“We need a complete ecological chain, including AI assistance, image guidance, and postoperative rehabilitation assessment.” Feng Xiaodong, director of the Department of Intervention at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said, “No matter how advanced the technology is, it must operate under the framework of safety, stability, and ethics.”
Opening a New Era of Minimally Invasive Thrombosis Treatment
Against the backdrop of the rising global prevalence of stroke, how to improve the efficiency of treatment and reducing the rate of disability has become a common challenge for healthcare systems in various countries. The introduction of Milli-spinner Thrombectomy may be a key step in answering this challenge.
It not only represents the technological innovation itself, but also means that minimally invasive, intelligent, and precise medical treatment is gradually becoming a reality, which is expected to benefit more countries and regions with a high incidence of stroke in the future. Experts generally believe that this technology will become one of the most promising new interventional devices in the global medical market once it completes the phase III trial and is formally approved.
Leave a comment