Scanning for Leg Clots

Reported June 2005

CHAROLOTTE, N.C. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Pulmonary embolisms kill 60,000 people every year. Often, the clots form in the legs, break free and travel to the lungs, where they can cause sudden death. CAT scans can identify these clots in the lungs. Now, doctors are using that same technology to get a leg up on their diagnosis.

Walking the long aisles of this warehouse isn't just part of Michael Leyva’s job. It's good therapy for his legs and lungs. That's because mike has blood clots in the deep veins of his legs that nearly cost him his life.

"I was in cardiac ICU, and that's when they explained to me that I had blood clots that had broke away from being in my legs from a previous surgery a week before," Leyva says.

CT scans of the chest identify clots in the lungs. Now radiologists are taking the scans a step further -- scanning a patient's legs to spot clots before they travel.

"That's the major advantage of doing CT venography, because it allows us the chance to see the clot in the legs before it breaks off and goes to the lungs," Jeffrey Kline, M.D., Director of Emergency Medicine Research at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., tells Ivanhoe.

CT venography takes only three minutes more than a standard lung scan. But those three minutes can mean life or death.

Dr. Kline says, "It gives us an idea of the duration of treatment, what we have to do, and what we're gonna tell the patient to expect."

For Leyva, the additional scan showed more clots lurking in his legs. Doctors have him on a blood thinner to help dissolve the clots. "It's getting better, and hopefully in July they’re gonna tell me, 'OK, you're off the Coumadin. You're off blood thinners,’" he says, a triumph over clots that, without CT venography, would have been a hidden -- and potentially deadly -- threat.

Dr. Kline says only about 20 percent of hospitals with the technology to perform CT venography are actually <em>using</em> the test. Other than a very small amount of extra radiation, there are no associated risks.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

If you would like more information, please contact:

Raymond Jones
Carolinas Health Care System
(704) 355-3141
Raymond.Jones@CarolinasHealthCare.org


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