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Three Drugs Equal With DVT |
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THURSDAY, April 22 (HealthDayNews) -- Three clot-dissolving drugs are equally effective when used in people with deep vein thrombosis (DVT), says a study in the April issue of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.
The drugs were delivered to the site of the blood clots as part of catheter-directed thrombolysis. In this procedure, a catheter is threaded up the leg vein to the clot. A drug is infused directly into the clot, causing it to dissolve.
This study, which included 74 people with 82 limbs with blood clots, tested the efficacy, safety and cost of three drugs -- urokinase, alteplase and reteplase. The study found all three drugs were equally effective in dissolving the blood clots.
The major difference was cost. Alteplase was 13 times less expensive than urokinase and four times cheaper than reteplase.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about deep vein thrombosis.
(SOURCE: Society of Interventional Radiology, news release, April 2004)
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