This week’s episode features Dr. Anahita Dua, MD, MBA, Associate Professor of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Peripheral Artery Disease Center at MGH. She joins us for a detailed conversation on below-the-knee disease, why recoil after POBA remains a real limitation, and how a retrievable stent platform like Reflow Medical’s Spur System is designed to disrupt plaque in a controlled way without leaving a permanent implant. Dr. Dua walks through the clinical rationale behind plaque modification, drug penetration, durability data from early studies through FDA clearance, and how she evaluates outcomes in her own patients through duplex follow-up and wound healing.

This episode centers on Dr. Dua’s clinical perspective on tibial interventions and how newer device concepts are influencing real-world decision-making.

03:35 The evolution of complex below-the-knee disease
05:09 Why balloon angioplasty alone often leads to recoil
24:44 FDA endpoints versus clinical durability
25:41 Histologic plaque disruption and controlled microchannels
28:16 Temporary scaffold concept and billing without leaving a stent
30:27 Retrievable stent design and drug penetration strategy
31:34 First-in-human experience and multicenter durability data
33:12 Restenosis and the importance of long-term follow-up
49:51 Duplex stability and wound healing as meaningful outcomes

Who Should Listen
Vascular surgeons, interventionalists, PAD-focused clinicians, and MedTech leaders who are evaluating durability, restenosis, and how device design translates into real-world outcomes.

About Dr. Anahita Dua
Dr. Anahita Dua is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She serves as Director of the Peripheral Artery Disease Center, Associate Director of the Wound Center, Clinical Director of Research, and Director of the Sub-Internship in Vascular Surgery. She developed and currently leads the Limb Evaluation and Amputation Program (LEAP) at the MGH. She also founded and runs the only comprehensive vascular surgery homeless clinic in the country at the MGH.

Dr. Dua completed her vascular surgery fellowship at Stanford University Hospital, general surgery residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and her medical school in the United Kingdom. She has also completed a master’s degree (MS) in trauma sciences and a master’s in business administration (MBA) in health care management. She also has a certificate in health economics and outcomes research, as well as certificates in drug and device development and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Dr. Dua is double board-certified in vascular surgery and general surgery. She is also boarded in advanced wound care and management, and has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers and edited five vascular surgery medical textbooks.

She runs an NIH-funded lab that focuses on anticoagulation and biomarkers that are predictive of thrombosis and hemostasis in patients who have undergone revascularization. Her research focuses on thromboprophylaxis precision and point-of-care medical approaches to anticoagulation for patients post revascularization. Her clinical and outcomes research focuses primarily on diseases involving peripheral vascular disease, limb salvage, and critical limb ischemia. She is part of a technology development team that creates tools to increase walking distance and wound healing while decreasing pain in patients with peripheral vascular disease.

Connect with Dr. Anahita
💼 LinkedIn: Anahita Dua

About Reflow Medical Inc.
Reflow Medical, Inc. is a privately held medical device company based in San Clemente, California, and a leading developer of innovative medical devices focused on complex cardiovascular disease.

A core element of Reflow Medical’s approach is the close collaboration between physicians and engineers, enabling rapid iteration from clinical insight to device design and real-world application.

The company’s portfolio includes coronary and peripheral microcatheters, crossing catheters, and the Spur® Stent System, which enables Retrievable Scaffold Therapy (RST), a temporary scaffolding approach designed to modify lesions, reduce recoil, and leave nothing behind.

Reflow Medical is committed to improving endovascular therapy outcomes for patients with complex lesions through clinically driven innovation.

Learn more about Reflow Medical
🌐 Website: reflowmedical.com/
💙 Spur: reflowmedical.com/spur/

Follow Life of Flow
📲 Instagram: @LifeofFlowPodcast
👍 Facebook: Life of Flow Podcast
💼 LinkedIn: Life of Flow Podcast
🐦 X: @VascularPodcast

If this episode clarified how you think about below-the-knee disease and durability, share it with a colleague who would value the discussion. And if you’re enjoying Life of Flow, a quick review helps other physicians find conversations like this.