The Memo: EndoShunt Medical Giving Surgeons the Gift of Time So They Can Give Patients the Gift of Life

Under the direction of CEO Tyler Zanon, EndoShunt Medical is developing a minimally invasive endovascular shunting device designed to give trauma surgeons temporary, targeted control over abdominal blood flow while maintaining perfusion to the rest of the body. In the most severe hemorrhage cases, where every minute can shape both survival and long-term quality of life, EndoShunt is working to replace blunt tools with a more controlled approach. As Zanon put it, “EndoShunt gives trauma surgeons the gift of time, so they can give trauma patients the gift of life.”

Origin Story

For Zanon, the mission behind EndoShunt is closely tied to the realities of trauma care. Based in Chicago, he has spent roughly 15 years in healthcare product development, first in academia and then in industry. Living in a major city with high rates of traumatic injury, he has seen how urgent the problem remains.

“We haven’t seen actual innovation since World War II,” Zanon said.

He often explains the challenge with a burst pipe analogy. When water is leaking, the options are either to apply pressure from the outside or shut off flow entirely. “While that’s great in plumbing, it’s not great in healthcare,” he said. “And that’s unfortunately exactly how surgeons are empowered to deal with abdominal bleeding today.”

That gap helped bring together a team of engineers, trauma surgeons, and medical device leaders around a shared goal: giving surgeons more time to perform definitive repairs without sacrificing downstream blood flow.

The Current Landscape

Today, trauma surgeons managing severe abdominal bleeding are often forced to choose between invasive packing, cross-clamping, or balloon occlusion. Each comes with serious tradeoffs.

Packing requires opening the patient and racing to locate the source of the bleed, often under extreme time pressure. Cross-clamping and balloon occlusion can reduce hemorrhage, but they do so by cutting off downstream blood flow, introducing a different set of risks.

“While that may mitigate bleeding, it starves our tissues of oxygen, and as little as 30 minutes can lead to irreversible damage as serious as blood poisoning, amputation, or even organ failure,” Zanon said.

That risk is not theoretical. Zanon described a case involving a 22-year-old patient with severe abdominal bleeding who underwent a blood flow restriction intervention and ultimately required a leg amputation.

“It’s a real problem for a predominantly young adult population who then has to go on with hopefully 70 years of life, but 70 years of very negatively impacted quality of life,” he said.

The burden extends beyond individual outcomes. According to EndoShunt, abdominal hemorrhage contributes to hundreds of thousands of fatalities globally each year, alongside high complication rates and billions in healthcare costs.

Inside the Innovation

EndoShunt is designed to provide temporary control over abdominal blood flow through deployment in the body’s major vessels, including the aorta and IVC.

The device is delivered through a 7 French catheter inserted via the femoral artery or vein and advanced to the target vessel, where it can be deployed to control hemorrhage while preserving downstream blood flow as clinically necessary.

Zanon described it as “a size-adjustable tunnel inside the aorta or the IVC so that surgeons can say what highway exits are open or closed as they make repairs to the injury.”

The device leverages established safe and effective materials in a novel combination.

“Once the device frame is exposed to body temperature, it expands to create a seal on the inside of the blood vessel,” Zanon explained. “The lining then maintains blood flow through the device while controlling hemorrhage at the injury site.”

The design is intended to integrate into existing workflows while changing what is possible in acute hemorrhage management.

As Zanon said, EndoShunt is designed so surgeons’ “hands can go to solving the problem, not dealing with the systems of that leaking pipe.”

While trauma is the company’s initial focus, the broader platform opportunity is significant. EndoShunt sees future applications in transplant, surgical oncology, OB/GYN, and military settings, all scenarios where temporary targeted vascular control could create clinical value.

Progress and Milestones

EndoShunt has completed 15 critical preclinical models and is advancing toward FDA readiness.

The company plans to begin manufacturing in the near term, produce the test products required for regulatory submission, and complete the GLP testing required for its anticipated Class II pathway.

“We anticipate starting a clinical pilot launch downstream of all of our regulatory testing requirements,” Zanon said.

That pilot is expected to involve a select number of trauma centers and generate the real-world evidence needed ahead of broader commercialization.

EndoShunt has also secured its first 27 granted patent claims and is filing a continuation to expand its intellectual property position.

On the financing side, the company is nearing completion of a $2.5 million convertible round, with approximately $150,000 remaining.

Zanon said the round has attracted “some really sophisticated angel groups in the medtech space, early-stage venture capital, healthcare strategic venture investing, and even some governmental venture arms.”

The company estimates its initial U.S. trauma beachhead at just over $480 million, focused on the most severe Level 1 trauma cases relevant to abdominal hemorrhage. Longer term, the opportunity expands considerably as the platform moves into adjacent procedural markets.

The LSI Effect

For EndoShunt, LSI USA ‘26 helped transform an early investor relationship into a formal strategic partnership.

“We first connected with Catherine Kiani and the Elderberry fund in February,” Zanon said. “We knew we’d see them again in person at LSI USA ’26 in Dana Point, and that made all the difference.”

That in-person momentum accelerated quickly.

“Meeting Catherine again, shaking Joe Kiani’s hand, talking through the full Elderberry team about what we were building. The most impactful business happens in person,” he said. “The week after LSI, we had one final diligence call. A couple of days later, we got the formal commitment. Catherine joined the team as an invaluable board observer as we prepare for our growth journey ahead.”

But for Zanon, Elderberry was only one example of the broader value created within the LSI ecosystem.

“The greatest part of LSI is the energy and engagement of everyone there,” he said. “Everyone’s there to make healthcare better by the end of the week than it was when they arrived. We spoke to potential clinical pilots. We spoke to potential Series A investors. We mapped partnerships with individuals who connected us to the U.S. military. It’s incredible, diverse, engaging, and impactful. There is nothing else like it.”