Shanghai, China – 13 January, 2015 – Recently, a research project based on the clinical application of WILLIS® Intracranial Stent Graft System ("WILLIS®") was granted a national award.
The project, titled "Research and Clinical Application of Noninvasive Imaging and Minimally Invasive Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysm and its Related Vascular," was completed by Professor Minghua Li of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, Zhiyong Xie, General Manager of MicroPort NeuroTech (Shanghai) Co ("MicroPort NeuroTech") and other professionals. It was granted the second-class award of Science and Technology Achievements in the National Science and Technology Award Congress held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council in Beijing.
This project, which belongs to the field of medical imaging, develops the noninvasive imaging and minimally invasive treatment of intracranial aneurysms, effectively improving the diagnosis accuracy and cure rate of intracranial aneurysms. The project team promoted the application of its research results to 18 national medical institutions, in which 2,538 intracranial aneurysm patients were diagnosed with 3D-TOF-MRA and 1,536 were treated with neuro-interventional therapy.
The project was based on the clinical application of WILLIS®, which is researched and developed independently by MicroPort NeuroTech. As the first stent graft system launched in China for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms, WILLIS® achieves complete occlusion of intracranial aneurysms through vascular reconstruction.
"This award proves the superior efficacy of WILLIS®," said Zhiyong Xie. "Compared with the traditional method of stent-assisted coil embolization treatment, the procedure of vascular reconstruction using WILLIS® can effectively shunt the blood flow and keep it off of the aneurysm wall."
Intracranial aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. The disease is regarded as a bomb ticking in brain to explode at any time, with incidence highest in people aged between 40 and 60. If an intracranial aneurysm ruptures, blood quickly leaks into the space around the brain, leading to subarachnoid hemorrhage ("SAH"), and patients will suffer from neurological deficit or die from initial bleeding. Even if the intracranial aneurysm does not rupture, in some cases, it can increase pressure on relevant nerves, causing neurological functional symptoms, such as vision impairment.