Combined Treatment Busts DVT Thrombus

A system to treat deep vein thrombosis (DVT) combines the use of clot-busting drugs with a mechanical dispersion device to break up the clot faster.

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. The device is guided directly to the clot via the catheter placed in the vein. The system is positioned at the site of the clot and a balloon is inflated on both sides of the DVT to prevent debris from traveling to other parts of the body, as well as to isolate the treatment zone, reducing the risk of the infused drug causing subsequent bleeding. Next, a dispersion wire is fed through the catheter, where it begins to rotate, mixing the clot-busting drug within the thrombus; the pieces are then aspirated into the catheter and removed from the body. Because the device disperses the drug throughout the clot, it allows the clot-dissolving drug to work much more quickly, reducing the amount of drug used, which may lead to a decrease in the risk of bleeding. The Trellis device has been found to remove the blood clot and restores blood flow much quicker than the current catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) technique, which uses a drug alone and can take as long as two to three days to be effective with the patient in an intensive care unit (ICU). The Trellis-8 Peripheral Infusion System is a product of Bacchus Vascular (Santa Clara, CA, USA) and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"It gets the clot out right away, restoring blood flow in the vein while the patient's blood becomes sufficiently thinned by anticoagulation medication to prevent blood clots in the future. Patients experience dramatic relief of pain, swelling, and skin discoloration in just a few hours,” said Gerard J. O'Sullivan, M.D., M.B., an interventional radiologist at Galway University Hospital (Ireland). "The procedure is now so commonplace where I work that the ER, oncology, and general medicine doctors all refer patients directly to me for this procedure because it works so well and is so safe.”

DVT can lead to serious consequences, including pulmonary embolism (PE) or post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS). The standard initial treatment with blood thinners is important to prevent a life-threatening PE, but does not treat the existing clot. Removing these clots is important because about 50% of the time, untreated clots will cause PTS, a condition characterized by chronic leg pain, swelling, and ulcers. Even though the clot may eventually dissolve on its own, in the meantime the veins are permanently damaged due to a combination of vein valve damage and blocked blood flow in the vein from residual thrombus.


Related Links:
Bacchus Vascular
Galway University Hospital