Treatment options for blood clots Essay Example for Free

Treatment options for blood clots Essay The option in treating blood clots is a case to case basis whether the clot has developed in an artery or a vein and creates stroke or heart attack. During emergencies, thrombolytic treatments-clot busters- may possibly used to suspend the blood clot. These treatments are applied to some selected patients in accordance to an extensive protocol. In order to be efficient, they are provided no less than one hour of the heart attack or in three hours of the stroke. Thrombolytics are normally applied when there are huge clots which cause severe and life-threatening signs. These can create abrupt and unexpected bleeding. There are many invasive methods that can also be used. One of these is the catheter-directed thrombolysis. It is a method which the catheter proc\vides thrombolytic enzymes straight to the blood clot. Throughout this process, greater enzymes’ concentrations could be utilized and may possibly have lesser side effects compared when the enzymes are supplied subcutaneously no less than two days. Thrombolytic method is followed by a treatment that has anticoagulants to stop more blood clots from formation. Anticoagulants could be advised to patients that have great risk of a blood clot. Researchers are really trying very hard to different catheter-based procedures to cure stroke rapidly. One of the experimental procedures which included is the use of a tiny â€Å"corkscrew† device which rapidly reverses the injury created by a stroke. The said device is directed to where the blood clot is; where it removes the obstruction. Another procedure depends on a special laser catheter which utilizes light energy to suspend rapidly the blood clot. These latest therapies can be accessible to a patient that cannot bear clot-busting drugs (see â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). Furthermore, when a blood clot develops in a leg vein, there is a risk that a pulmonary embolism will form. A pulmonary embolism may possibly be a life-threatening in which blood clots break away from its location and passes through the bloodstream and stay in one of the blood vessels of the lungs. To avoid and stop a pulmonary embolism, the present blood clots in the legs may cured with a mixture of heat, thrombolytics, painkilling treatments, elevation of the injured area to lessen swelling and anticoagulants. This procedure relies on the clot’s size and the seriousness of any current symptoms. When a patient does not react to anticoagulants, the physicians will decide for a process which uses a catheter having a special device named as vena cava filter. The vena cava filter is inserted in the large vein which transports blood from the legs up to the heart and lungs (vena cava). Additionally, the vena cava filter is a kind of a device which catches blood clots within the vein before the blood clots are permitted to reach the lungs. However, there are several danger related with vena cava filters which comprise failure of the filter in terms of time and blood clots created by means of it. Many researchers really work on in improving the vena cava filters which can be withdrawn right after the medication of pulmonary embolism. There are researches that substantiated and confirmed that treatment in a longer period of time along with a low-does anticoagulant drugs aids in stopping the presence of blood clots amongst those patients who have background of vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (see â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). C. 2 Diagnosis methods There are several ways on how to diagnose blood clots. It starts with a medical background and physical test. When there is suspension of clot, several of examinations are utilized to substantiate the diagnosis and these include Doppler ultrasound, CAT scan and MRI: *Doppler ultrasound pertains to an imaging technology which utilizes sound or motion waves to give visual images of the structure and of several blood vessels and organs in our body (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006).   CAT scan refers to computer axial tomography. It is an examination which utilizes a number of x-rays which got from different sides in order to give a computerized three-dimensional image of a body shape (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). MRI means magnetic resonance imaging which is a noninvasive examination that utilizes magnetic fields to give high-resolution cross- sectional or three-dimensional visual images of the aimed surface (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†.Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). References 1. â€Å"Thrombus†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. October 11, 2006. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Blood_clot 2. â€Å"Blood Clotting†. June 4, 2005. http://users. rcn. com/jkimball. ma. ultranet/BiologyPages/C/Clotting. html 3. â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots. cfm 4. â€Å"The Biology of Blood Clots†. Mayo Clinic’s Online Research Magazine. 2006.http://discoverysedge. mayo. edu/vascular_biology/ 5. â€Å"How do blood clots form? March 11, 2004. http://www. innohepusa. com/corporateweb/innohepus/home. nsf/Content/Howdoclotsform. 6. â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots7. cfm 7. â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots6. cfm.