Clot-busting drugs

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- As many as 100,000 Americans die every year from pulmonary embolism -- a blood clot to the lung. Traditionally, doctors treat pulmonary embolism with blood thinning medications, which slowly relieve the symptoms like shortness of breath. But new research shows that for some patients, a different approach can have life-saving results.

"We like to travel. We like the shore," Rosalie O'Neil told ABC30.

Beach trips like this destination wedding almost weren't possible for Rosalie O'Neil this year.

"I was feeling more congestion every day," said O'Neil. "It was getting a little worse."

After two weeks of suffering through what she thought was the flu, Rosalie went to the emergency room.

"We could see her heart was racing. Her heart rate was double what it should have been," Jay Giri, M.D., Interventional Cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania told ABC30.

"They did a PET scan, and that's where they found blood clots in both lungs," said O'Neil.

In addition to the traditional blood thinning medication, Dr. Giri also offered Rosalie clot-busting drugs.

"Dr. Giri said if you decide to do it, tomorrow you will breathe much better," said O'Neil. "And he was right."

Doctors traditionally reserve clot-busting drugs for the very sickest patients, because of the risk of bleeding to the brain.

Dr. Giri and his colleagues analyzed the results of previous trials of the clot-busting drugs and found adding the drugs to traditional therapy reduced deaths by 47 percent. Low-risk patients did fine with only the traditional therapy. High-risk patients needed the clot-busting drugs. The big difference? The 20 percent of patient's in-between.

"There was a benefit to treating intermediate risk patients with clot-busters," said Dr. Giri.

Rosalie was in that middle group. She says the additional therapy got her back to the things she enjoys most -- surf and sand with family and friends.

Dr. Giri says the use of clot-busting drugs is still a hotly-debated topic, but this study shows the benefits of offering the therapy to additional patients. Dr. Giri says the best candidates for the clot-busting drugs are younger than 65, with little to no risk of bleeding. He says additional research is needed to help doctors better tailor pulmonary embolism treatments to the individual patient.

For more information on this report, please contact:

Lee Ann Donegan
Media Relations
University of Pennsylvania Health System
215-349-5660
Leeann.donegan@uphs.upenn.edu