Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Therapy

Thrombolytic therapy is a treatment used to break up dangerous clots inside blood vessels. To perform this treatment, physician injects clot-dissolving medications into a blood vessel. In some cases, the medications flow through bloodstream to the clot. In other cases, physician guides a long, thin tube, called a catheter, through the blood vessels to the area of the clot. Depending on the circumstances, the tip of the catheter may carry special attachments that break up clots. The catheter then delivers medications or mechanically breaks up the clot.

Thrombolytic therapy commonly is used to treat an ischemic stroke, which is another name for a clot in a blood vessel in brain. It can also be used to treat clots in:

• A lung artery, called a pulmonary embolism
• The deep veins of leg, called deep vein thrombosis (DVT) Heart, which may cause a heart attack
• An artery elsewhere in the body, such as in an arm or leg artery
• A bypass graft or dialysis catheter that has become blocked
  

Related Journals of ThrombolyticTherapy
Journal of Blood Disorders & Transfusion, Angiology: Open Access, Journal of Hematology & Thromboembolic Diseases, Journal of Thrombosis and Circulation: Open Access, Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis, Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis.