Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) affects close to 1 million people each year and occurs when a blood clot (thrombus) forms in the deep veins in the body. Between 25 to 60% of these DVT patients suffers from Post Thrombotic Syndrome (PTS) which includes painful swollen legs leading to immobility and other skin issues, decreasing their quality of life significantly.
Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot (thrombus) that obstructs one or more of the deep veins in the body, usually in the legs (2M/year)
25% of these DVT cases is an Iliofemoral DVT potentially treated with a thrombectomy after which 50% needs to be stented (0,25M/year)
After a DVT, 25 % develops a Post Thrombotic Syndrom (PTS) due to a central venous obstruction (15M prevalence)
PTS is treated by anti-coagulation, compression and mobilisation. Stenting is a better alternative to this treatment.
To date stents still have a failure rate of 15-25%, and patients are often forced to use anti-coagulants life long.
Veins are constantly changing in form and shape and therefore axial and longitudinal flexibility is needed
Nitinol, is a memory metal and therefore implanted stents will try to regain the shape they had in the factory which could hinder the blood flow through the stent
Venous Stent B.V. develops the world’s first in length adjustable multi-segmented tapered venous stent: The WStent. This design is based on the fact that in venous stenting it is not necessary to cover the complete endothelial wall as in arteries, but it is just there to prevent the vein from collapsing. The novel segmented design allows for high radial force per segment and high flexibility due to thin connections between the segments. This, combined with the adjustable intersegmental distances, leads to less stent material against the vein wall, nurturing faster endothelial healing and higher porosity for inflow through covered sidebraches, and therefore reducing the necessity to anticoagulants use in the long run.
WStent is a novel, dedicated and segmental venous stent with a design that allows for major clinical improvement
Leuven University Hospital Animal Study (3 x 3 sheep, 6 months)
100% tissue coverage of the stent.
1 month
60 – 80% coverage
3 months
80 – 100% coverage
6 months
100% coverage
This study demonstrates that lengthening the W-Stent by increasing skipped segments and reducing metallic
burden does not adversely affect the development of neointimal formation or cause migration.
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