Intra-arterial Thrombolysis
Thrombolysis is a method of treating strokes caused by blood clots in the brain’s arteries. It dissolves these clots, either by a chemical reaction or by physically breaking them up. Today, intravenous thrombolysis — injecting the drug t-PA into a vein to break up a clot chemically — is the frontline therapy for these strokes, provided that the patient seeks emergency treatment within three to four hours of the appearance of stroke symptoms.
A number of other therapies are available at MINC for patients with arterial blockages, including use of angioplasty balloons, stents, the MERCI clot retrieval device, and intra-arterial thrombolysis.
While intra-arterial thrombolysis patients at MINC may receive clot-busting drugs alone, surgeons also may use mechanical methods to break up clots for select patients. Such methods may be used to improve delivery of a thrombolytic drug or on their own. They are a promising technology for the future, partly because mechanical breakup can be achieved faster than the chemical breakup produced by drugs.
If a stroke patient is not near a specialized stroke center like MINC, which can perform intra-arterial thrombolysis, a local hospital may apply intravenous thrombolysis to stabilize the patient’s condition, and then send he or she to a larger center for intra-arterial therapy or angioplasty and stenting. Intra-arterial thrombolysis also may be used in combination with other stent-based therapies.