Patent ID: 8715314

Claim:
A method of treating a thrombus in a vessel, the method comprising: measuring a length of the thrombus in the vessel; advancing a microcatheter in the vessel, wherein advancing the microcatheter includes crossing the thrombus with a distal end of the microcatheter; inserting a thrombectomy device in a radially compressed state from an introducer sheath into the microcatheter, the thrombectomy device including a textile structure including a plurality of filaments woven to form a plurality of self-expanding bulbs, at least two of the plurality of filaments comprising radiopaque material and configured to form crossing points visible under x-ray, the crossing points configured to provide approximate length measurement of an expanded length of the thrombectomy device; after inserting the thrombectomy device from the introducer sheath into the microcatheter, advancing the thrombectomy device in the vessel and through the microcatheter proximate to the distal end of the microcatheter, wherein advancing the thrombectomy device includes crossing the thrombus with the distal-most bulb of the plurality of self-expanding bulbs; after advancing the thrombectomy device, retracting the microcatheter to unsheathe a length of the thrombectomy device, wherein upon being unsheathed from the microcatheter at least some of the plurality of self-expanding bulbs of the elongate support structure of the thrombectomy device self-expand from the radially compressed state to a radially expanded state, wherein retracting the microcatheter is at least until the length of the thrombectomy device is at least as long as the measured length of the thrombus in the vessel; entrapping the thrombus in the unsheathed self-expanding bulbs; after entrapping the thrombus in the unsheathed self-expanding bulbs, removing the thrombus from the vessel in substantially one piece using the thrombectomy device; measuring a length of the thrombus out of the vessel; and comparing the length of the thrombus in the vessel to the length of the thrombus out of the vessel.