Cathether-Directed Thrombolysis

Great forum, I too have been recently diagnosed with DVT and I have a question to all those with experience with Cathether-Directed Thrombolysis.

I'm a early 40's, healthy, active male in my first week of a calf and mid-thigh DVT. The pain is only in the calf, very little swelling, but painful enough that I hobble when I walk. When I'm off my feet, the pain largely subsides. The doc said he expects that from what he can see so far, he expects I'll recover from this without any significant post thrombotic swelling or pain. He's very firm that any catheter-directed thombolysis (CDT) treatment could cause more damage than good and I shouldn't do it.

That said, there are discussion threads here from people who have found such treatments immensely helpful in the short term. Are there more folks who can sound off on their experience with this treatment. For certain, I feel I need to decide soon as most research seems to indicate that outside two weeks, the efficacy of the treatment starts to fall quickly.

Hi jtay,

Sorry to hear about your DVT but glad you found this place!

I don't have any personal experience to add here regarding this procedure, but I'm sure you will get some suggestions from folks here. For myself, I only had a DVT from above my knee to my ankle. Even though it embolized, it was not significant to warrant a procedure of this nature, which to my knowledge is invasive. After several months, I was doing great and now, just over a year later, I almost would never know I had it! (My ongoing saga is in the DVT Diary in Vancouver.)

Also, not sure where you are located, but if in BC, Canada, I have founded a live support group. (I actually believe it's the first DVT peer support group in Canada... well, at least that I can locate.) For info: http://www.meetup.com/DVT-Support-Group-of-the-Lower-Mainland/ (I'm also an Advocacy Committee member with the NATF--North American Thrombosis Forum.)

Dero did an awesome job setting up this forum. It really is a godsend! And there are a ton of resources here. I also have a large list of resource links that may be helpful at: http://www.meetup.com/DVT-Support-Group-of-the-Lower-Mainland/pages/Resources/ We all tend to share resources, so if you find some that you find particular helpful for your situation, it would be great if you could share, so we can share them here and on my site.

Take care and have a great day! Get well soon!
Brenda