Seeing as this forum has more medical people than most hospitals (joke)
My wife has d.v.t in her left leg, and also a broken right leg. She's been on Warfrain and Clexane for the past week, as well as wearing those lovely compression stockings.
She's got one large clot near her groin another in her calf and several smaller clots also in the leg, at the weekend she experienced problems due to bits breaking off and ending up in the lungs, so she was rushed from one hospital to another and had a Inferior vena cava filter fitted due to it being the weekend. After being moved back yesterday afternoon to the original hospital, this morning the team of Doc's turn up and tell her that theres going to be long term damage to the vein and the large clots arn't shrinking/breaking down as they should, so they have mentioned putting an acid in the vein to break down the clot, a Google search couldn't come up with anything similar, so I was wondering if anyone knew what its called or what's envolved?
I like to know whats going on so I can explain it to the wife which somehow reassures her more than the Doc's do, if when I say the same thing as them.

father in law has just had a pulmonary embolism (clot on the lung) as a result of an undiagnosed DVT. It nearly killed him.

However, he did survive the PE attack and is now on warfarin; the clot is in his thigh end he is also being given a drug to break down the clot. Do a google search on Pulmonary Embolism, that will tell you (probably more than) everything you need to know.

The fact that she's under treatment means it's a good thing.

All the best

I don't know about that treatment but I had a serious DVT about 12 years ago. It stretched from ankle to groin and once they found it (I had had it for weeks, inside a plaster cast) they made me lie still till it had all gone. Apparently the stuff like warfarin and heparin stop new clots – they don't dissolve old ones, your body's natural antibodies have to do that. None of the little bits broke off and got stuck anywhere nasty in my case.

The permanent damage was to the little valves, or gates in the vein which allow the blood to be pumped up the leg in stages. Because I'd had it for ages, the little buggers were crushed to buggery. Other people who get caught early can have better outcomes. Most make a total recovery.

The long term effects? Well, I have to wear a compression stocking most of the time in the day or else I get fat ankles (pooling odoema) which can cause leg ulcers if left untreated, and there is a tiny bit of varicose and gristly vein under the surface which is not visible. I also am supposed to moisturise regularly, but being a bloke, I hardly ever do.

Restrictions? None. I don't wear the stocking if I'm wearing shorts or going for a bike ride of less than 3 hours. I always wear it if windsurfing, surfing or snowboarding because these activities cause a static tension and make my leg swell up otherwise. Although I will always treat myself to one stocking free blast per day if I'm on a windsurfing holiday, because the feeling of being barefoot is nicer. I regularly do multi-day mountain bike trips and am just off for 2 weeks solid windsurfing in Dominican Republic.

Tips – you can get the very best stockings on NHS prescription. Find out the compression class required and phone Medi UK with ankle and calf measurements and they will tell her what to tell the doctor (its a bit of a fuss to get the right ones, they're not on the normal NHS database, so the doc and chemist will have to make a special prescription). They come in a variety of colours and are not horrid. Try to get referred to a vascular surgeon who will be able to give the very best advice based on her specific case.

Overall, if there's a reason for the DVT like immobility and fracture theres no reason for it to return. Warfarin for 6 months probably. Otherwise it shouldn't cause any restrictions to what she wants to do. Let me know if you need more info.

Luke – sounds like she is getting good treatment – good luck to her. Can be very serious but it sounds like it was caught in time.

I don't know about the clot threatemnt offered? Acid sounds like an attempt to speak in laymans terms by a doc not used to doing so.

Clot busting drugs are available I know. Try googling clot busting drugs or throbolysis drugs or something like?

I'm going to go and see the specialist when he calls in to see her, I've a feeling TJ was right when he said the Doc was trying to talk in laymens terms.
We know all about P.E's the father inlaw died of one after breaking his leg and the DVT not being treated 10 years ago next week.

2nd what TJ said about Thrombolytics. They basically break the clot down. Tenecteplase is a type of thrombolytic which has been used for this and is listed as an amino acid glycoprotein on wikipedia. Paramedics have used this on the road for heart attack victims to break the clot.

Goood luck, hope that helps 😉