New treatment for DVT
This blows me away. A deep venous thrombosis is crossed with a wire via a percutaneous approach, balloons are inflated on either side of the clot, a thrombolytic is administered through ports between the balloons (remaining in the target area), a spinning twisted wire acts like a blender which chops up the clot, and then everything is sucked back up into the catheter. Instant cure. Video animation here.
From the website of the catheter manufacturer (Bacchus Vascular):
The Trellis® - 8 Peripheral Infusion System is an advanced Isolated Thrombolysis catheter with two occluding balloons, drug infusion holes between the balloons, and mechanical drug dispersion capabilities. This pharmaco-mechanical combination enables focused treatment of thrombus within a targeted vessel.
Looks promising to me. I have no financial (or any other) connection with this company, by the way, but I wish I did.
From the website of the catheter manufacturer (Bacchus Vascular):
The Trellis® - 8 Peripheral Infusion System is an advanced Isolated Thrombolysis catheter with two occluding balloons, drug infusion holes between the balloons, and mechanical drug dispersion capabilities. This pharmaco-mechanical combination enables focused treatment of thrombus within a targeted vessel.
Looks promising to me. I have no financial (or any other) connection with this company, by the way, but I wish I did.
Labels: medical
posted by scalpel at 4:59 PM
10 Comments:
Interesting. It'll probably be years until this technology gets to my town.
Shoot. I was hoping they were a public company. I like to own stocks that do good stuff.
Thanks for passing on the information.
MJ
The standard treatment of DVT is really old-fashioned. 10 years ago we were still admitting these patients for a weeklong hospital stay and IV heparin, followed by several weeks to months of oral warfarin.
The approval of low molecular weight heparin (Lovenox, Fragmin) have made hospital stays unnecessary (if the patient can afford the meds), but the pain and swelling of the DVT persist during the therapy.
This therapy not only negates the need for hospitalization but also gives instantaneous relief of symptoms. The current treatment of DVT is so problematic (requiring frequent checks of prothrombin time, consideration of multiple potential drug interactions, and obviously the risk and compliance issues) that insurance companies should consider paying for transportation of selected patients to appropriate facilities to get this definitive treatment if the results are as encouraging as initial reports suggest.
But I doubt that would ever happen. Selected patients who can afford a trip to a tertiary facility might prefer such definitive treatment to weeks of Coumadin, however.
I know I would. Coumadin is scary stuff.
I'd think it'd still be recommended to have a course of coumadin, even if the clot were sucked out?...
When I finally figured out I had a DVT with PE (more SOB than expected riding my bike, sore leg, finally noticed the swelling) and the doppler showed clot up to the groin, I talked my doc out of hospitalization and did the fragmin thing at home. Figured I'd been having emboli and hadn't died. In retrospect, I was probably stupid.
I can't seem to find any literature that addresses that issue. I would think it would depend on the reason for the DVT. Obviously, if a person has a risk for recurrent clots (protein C or S deficiency, active cancer, quadroplegia) then long-term anticoagulation would be indicated.
If the DVT occurred after a long car ride or was related to an indwelling catheter that could be removed, then it might not be.
Very cool! I had a lot of those problems following surgery earlier this year. I might have preferred this to a ton of injections!
I randomly found this post...
I'm actually the lead engineer on this device and head of R&D at Bacchus Vascular. If you guys would like to know more, let me know. I can also get the local rep to help bring devices in.
KN
I suffered a DVT 10 years ago in my leg and continue to experience swelling and some discoloration after running, work outs. I would love to find out more about the availability of the procedure, risks and successes.
Kelvin is your device available in the UK. Please could you make contact by e mail and advise.
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