Saint Francis Medical Center is the first hospital in the state of Missouri to perform a pulmonary embolectomy (removal of a clot) in a minimally invasive procedure using the AngioVac endovascular clot removal system! A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot travels from the legs through the heart to the lungs, creating a blockage. This is a problem because the lungs infuse blood with oxygen. Once blood leaves the lungs, the heart delivers the oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body. If the blood clot is small, a person can usually take blood thinners to dissolve it. However, if it is large, the person may be in danger of having the right side of the heart completely obstructed – a situation which can be fatal. In these cases, a surgeon needs to perform emergency open surgery to manually remove the clot. Click below to read more.
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 16:30:00 +0000