Methodist in the Media
West Omaha Woman in Clinical Trial for Pulmonary Embolism Treatments
Published: Jan. 3, 2023
A global clinical trial is underway to examine the best treatment for blood clots in the lungs.
The condition affects around one in 1,000 people in the U.S. every year.
A year ago during the holidays, a west Omaha woman would get tired doing anything in the kitchen. She felt she’d never get off the struggle bus.
“We were just a day short of heading out on a cruise,” Maggie said. “All packed up and ready to go. I sat down to put on my shoes, and when I stood up I couldn’t breathe.”
It was a pulmonary embolism, meaning she had blood clots in an artery to her lungs.
“I could breathe, but I couldn’t get any air.”
For decades, patients with a pulmonary embolism were treated one way. Hit the body with massive amounts of blood thinners, but that can lengthen recovery time and even cause internal bleeding.
But in the last decade, Methodist Physicians Clinic vascular surgeon John Park, MD, has sometimes used a different therapy. He goes in with a catheter and targets the clot up close with ultrasound and a clot-dissolving drug.
The HI-PEITHO clinical trial will compare the two treatments, science’s way of determining what’s best for future patients.
WOWT: West Omaha woman in clinical trial for pulmonary embolism treatments
