Michigan receives NIH funding for vortex ultrasound clot-treatment research
Published in Diseases!, Tech News, Tools.
Published October 13, 2026.
The University of Michigan announced a five-year, US$3.74 million NIH-funded project on October 13 to develop a catheter-based vortex ultrasound device for pulmonary embolism.
The proposed device would deliver twisting sound waves directly to a clot through a small ultrasound source at the catheter tip. Researchers hypothesize that bubbles generated inside the clot could help break it apart while limiting vessel injury.
An earlier laboratory demonstration restored flow through a three-inch clot in eight minutes using bovine blood and plastic tubes. Intact tube walls in that model do not establish safety in living blood vessels, and the timing is not a demonstrated treatment time for patients.
The newly funded work will refine the catheter, adjust ultrasound wave shape and frequency, and assess short- and long-term safety in pigs. Human clinical effectiveness remains unproven.
This is a preclinical engineering and funding announcement, rather than evidence of an available replacement for established pulmonary embolism treatments.