Rice University engineering students have created a device to break up blood clots in the bladders of patients. Rice senior Lung-Ying Yu demonstrates how the device attached to a fishing rod and reel assembly breaks up clumps of gelatin. The finished version of the device will be motorized so it can be operated with just one hand. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
The wire tip of a new device to break up blood clots in the bladder creates a vortex when it spins; this pulls clots in and dissolves them. Rice University students created the device as their senior engineering design project. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Read: Students Take Clot-Buster for a Spin
Flexible nitinol wires at the tip of a device that breaks up blood clots collapse so they can pass through a catheter and regain their shape when they reach the bladder. Rice University students created the device as their senior engineering design project. (Credit: Team Evacuator/Rice University)
An egg-beater like tip on a device created by seniors at Rice University collapses to fit through a catheter and expands in the patient’s bladder, where it rotates and breaks up blood clots. (Credit: Team Evacuator/Rice University)
Members of the Rice University senior engineering team that designed a new device to break up blood clots in the bladder show a test version of their invention. Clockwise, from front, are Lung-Ying Yu, Tiffany Huang, Adrian Gallegos and Aaron Hu. Not pictured: Patrick Yun. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
