Researchers have pioneered a way to create miniaturized copies of a person's carotid artery that could help doctors predict and manage the patient's stroke risk, a new study suggests.
In the research, published in July in the journal Cell Biomaterials, scientists used these "arteries-on-a-chip" to monitor how real blood flows through a patient's carotid arteries, which carry blood to the brain, face and neck. This could enable doctors to identify not just how and what type of clots form in that specific patient, but also determine which medications would be most effective in dealing with the blockage.
While the technique is currently a proof-of-concept, someday, it could help medical practitioners to better tailor treatments for each patient.
"I see this approach being most relevant to difficult clinical cases," said study first author Charles Zhao, a doctoral student at the University of Sydney. "For example, patients who have experienced recurrent events despite treatment,...
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