Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common and sometimes fatal disease with a highly variable clinical presentation. It is critical that therapy is administered in a timely fashion to prevent recurrent thromboembolism.
If your vascular doctor detects a blood clot such as Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism you may be a candidate for catheter-based therapy to treat the problem.
During catheter-assisted thrombolysis treatment, a catheter is guided through blood vessels to the location of the blood clot. The catheter will deliver special clot dissolving medicine called thrombolytics to help dissolve the clot. The device, called EKOS is a cutting-edge technology that uses an ultrasound to deliver very low doses of a clot-dissolving drug directly into the clot through a catheter. The result is rapid clearance of the clot while at the same time significantly reducing the risk of bleeding. As ultrasound waves penetrate the clot, it causes the clot to become very porous so when a clot-dissolving drug is infused, it is rapidly absorbed into the clot. The dissolving process is significantly accelerated, resulting in rapid restoration of blood flow.