A blood clot aspiration catheter includes an aspiration/flushing lumen having a distal portion that is insertable into a blood vessel of a patient, an aspiration device configured to create an aspiration phase to aspirate clot and blood into the aspiration/flushing lumen and a flushing phase to flush non-clotted blood from the aspiration/flushing lumen, a one-way valve configured to allow clot and blood to flow through the aspiration/flushing lumen during the aspiration phase and to block flow during the flushing phase, and filter valves configured to filter non-clotted blood to be flushed from the aspiration/flushing lumen.
