Guidance for treating deep blood clots

WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- U.S. physicians are encouraged to consider using more than just blood thinners to treat patients with blood clots, researchers say.

Dr. M. Sean McMurtry, co-chair of the group that wrote the scientific statement of the American Heart Association, published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, says there has been limited guidance in the past for physicians on some of the more serious conditions caused by deep vein thrombosis.

The statement offers advice for cardiologists and other physicians who treat people with blood clots formed in veins deep in the body -- in the lungs, in the main vein of the pelvis and leg -- and serious high blood pressure in the lungs caused by blood clots.

Treatment options highlighted include the use of drugs that dissolve blood clots, inserting a small plastic catheter into an artery to clear a blockage, treatment with surgery to remove the blood clots and use of filters to prevent clots from traveling in veins from the legs to the lungs. Also included is guidance for treating children.

"It is important for doctors to be able to identify the severity of these disorders and to select who might be eligible for more invasive therapies, such as clot-busting drugs, catheter-based treatments or surgery," McMurtry said in a statement. "While most patients need blood thinners only, patients with more severe forms of venous thromboembolism may benefit from more aggressive treatments."