MT2020+ chair, Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology; and professor of clinical neurology, University of Miami

Dileep Yavagal, MD

“While MT2020 has been very fortunate to have a roadmap that has been rapidly implemented in many regions, the resources that are really needed by these regional committees are lacking in several places. A program like IMMEDIATE could totally fortify these efforts and get the access ‘ball’ rolling a little faster.”

In mid-March 2021, Medtronic announced that it was partnering with the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN) to aid in the expansion of the Mechanical Thrombectomy 2020+ (MT2020+) initiative, via collaboration with its own program, IMMEDIATE. Together, Medtronic announced, it and MT2020+ seek to overcome the barriers to treatment and improve stroke systems of care to enhance lives worldwide.

In order to find out more about the pairing of these 2 large entities and the overall mission and goals, 

 spoke with Dan Volz, president, Neurovascular Business, Medtronic, and Dileep Yavagal, MD, MT2020+ chair, and professor of clinical neurology, University of Miami, about it. The pair shared their insight into their expectations for the partnership and how it may ultimately improve the global care of patients with stroke.

Specifically, Volz shared his insight from Medtronic’s time developing devices and the like for neurovascular conditions and what the company hopes to bring to SVIN. Yavagal, on the other hand, pointed out some of the obstacles to accessing mechanical thrombectomy and highlighted the stakeholders in the stroke pathway of care.

REFERENCE
SVIN MT2020+ and Medtronic Enter New Partnership to Advance Stroke Care Globally. News release. March 15, 2021. Accessed April 2, 2021. https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/77072/SVIN-MT2020-and-Medtronic-Enter-New-Partnership-to-Advance-Stroke-Care-Globally

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The professor of clinical neurology at University of Miami and MT2020+ chair, and president of Medtronic's Neurovascular Business discussed the effort to improve global accessibility of mechanical thrombectomy.

The Partnership Between MT2020+ and Medtronic: Dileep Yavagal, MD, and Dan Volz

“We started to think about implementation and dissemination of this treatment all over our big country of the United States, but also globally. The burden of stroke is disproportionately higher in the low- and middle-income countries.”

In 2015, mechanical thrombectomy became the standard of care for treating stroke caused by large vessel occlusion (LVO), which is often associated with worse outcomes. In fact, accounts for almost three-fifths of long-term disability and death for all strokes, despite only accounting for 20% to 30% of the estimated 13 million people suffering strokes each year globally.

Despite its well-known benefits, the uptake in the utilization of this procedure has been slower than many stroke specialists have hoped. Dileep Yavagal, MD, professor of clinical neurology, University of Miami, described it as “a step forward not just in stroke but in all of medicine” to 

. As such, he and a group of other experts in stroke, as part of the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN) came together to start the Mechanical Thrombectomy 2020+ (MT2020+) initiative, of which he serves as chair.

Recently, the group published a white paper that called for a push to increase the awareness, accessibility, and action for mechanical thrombectomy for patients with stroke worldwide. To find out more about the programs and its goals, 

 inquired with Yavagal, who is also a past-president of SVIN. He explained the challenges that have been laid out since the acceptance of this procedure as standard of care, and why this initiative is so essential for the improvement of care for patients with LVO stroke.

REFERENCE
Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology. Mechanical Thrombectomy for Acute Stroke – Building Stroke Thrombectomy Systems of Care in Your Region: Why & How? Published October 24, 2020. Accessed November 9, 2020. https://www.svin.org/files/Final_formatted_SVIN_White_paper_2020_updated_references(1).pdf

The professor of clinical neurology at University of Miami and MT2020+ chair discussed the initiative’s effort to improve the global accessibility of mechanical thrombectomy.

Dileep Yavagal, MD

Articles

The Partnership Between MT2020+ and Medtronic: Dileep Yavagal, MD, and Dan Volz

Dileep Yavagal, MD: MT2020+ and Increasing Access to Mechanical Thrombectomy