Duncan Maitland, Ph.D.

Shape Memory Medical Inc. announced today it has received CE mark for its TrelliX® Embolic Coil System. The TrelliX Embolic Coil System is intended to obstruct or occlude blood flow in vascular abnormalities of the neurovascular and peripheral vessels. CE-marked indications include: Intracranial aneurysms, other neurovascular abnormalities such as arteriovenous malformations and arteriovenous fistulae, arterial and venous embolizations in the peripheral vasculature. The TrelliX Embolic Coil System features proprietary shape memory polymer (SMP) technology.

As of today, the TrelliX Embolic Coils have been used in more than 30 neurovascular interventions, including aneurysms (seven were large or giant), fistulas, and dissections. Dr. Gyula Gal, from Odense University Hospital in Denmark, remarked “In my experience, the SMP offers significantly higher thrombogenicity than bare-metal platinum coils, which often leads to rapid thrombosis of the lesions. In the majority of the cases, thrombosis continued after the treatment was finished, leading to better results at angiographic follow-up than at the end of the procedure. This is rare, especially for the large and giant aneurysms.” Dr. Gal, who performed a majority of the clinical cases, will be presenting a selection of his cases at the World Federation of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology Conference in Naples, Italy this week… Continue reading.

A lifesaving device more than 20 years in the making has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The clearance allows a company, co-founded by Associate Department Head Dr. Duncan Maitland from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, to begin to market the medical device.

Maitland developed the IMPEDE Embolization Plug, a device that could provide doctors with a more effective and less risky method for treating aneurysms – blood-filled, balloon-like bulges in the walls of a blood vessel that can rupture and cause vascular damage that is debilitating or even fatal. The device quickly clots blood to block it from reaching aneurysms, tumors or other issues. It creates a different kind of clot than current devices.

“If you put in other devices, they’re asking for big clots to form,” Maitland said. “Instead of creating a blood clot that is three or four millimeters in diameter, we’re creating thousands of smaller clots that are connected together… Continue reading.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Duncan Maitland, Ph.D., Professor Stewart and Stevenson Professorship I, Associate Department Head, Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, to its College of Fellows. Dr. Maitland was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for outstanding contributions in thermal and mechanical techniques including development of novel shape memory polymer devices for treating cardiovascular disease.