The role of interventional radiology in the management of deep venous thrombosis: Advanced therapy

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is often managed with a health care pathway that funnels patients to anticoagulation therapy alone. This "usual treatment" is designed to stop propagation and embolisation of venous thrombus but not remove it. Surgical thrombectomy was once the only option in severe cases in which limbs were threatened, but thrombus removal is no longer restricted to emergency cases. Interventional radiologists are now using advanced endovascular techniques to achieve thrombus removal in a minimally invasive manner in a very short treatment time, thereby quickly restoring patency, relieving acute symptoms, and potentially limiting the subsequent development of postthrombotic syndrome when followed with anticoagulation and compression regimens. This article provides an overview of the interventions available for treating DVT. One of the newer "single-session" techniques is isolated pharmacomechanical thrombolysis, which is described here in detail with supporting cases.