What is the treatment for blood clots in the lung (pulmonary embolus)?

CT scan of lungs: The beginning of all good testing is having the doctor take a good history and do a good physical exam. If the results are strongly suggestive of someone having a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism-pe), then a blood test called a d-dimer might be ordered. If that is low, you don't have a clot. If high, the gold standard of testing for a pe is a spiral cat scan of the lungs with infusion.

Anticoagulation: Heparin and then warfarin for about six months and followup pulmonary testing rarely surgery or embolectomy, or lower extremity interventions.

Acute PE: Treatment of a pulmonary embolus essentially depends on the clinical symptoms at the time of diagnosis. The symptoms can be many and varied. Treatment options:. Blood thinners , thrombolytic s, ivc filter or embolectomy( surgical removal of blood clots). First priority is to stabilize patient if needed. The decision tree will be based on what is deemed most effective for the patient

See below: typically, blood thinners such as coumadin are prescribed. If there embolus is large, there is a therapy called EKOS, where an ultrasound probe is placed right where the clot is and another probe is placed with it to deliver medication to basically dissolve the clot. In my experience, this has worked very well.