Baptist Medical Center introduces new blood clot removal procedure

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - An average of 500,000 Americans develop blood clots each year, enduring long hospital stays and blood thinning treatment.

Baptist Medical Center is the first in Central Mississippi to use cutting edge technology to remove blood clots and decrease pain and swelling.

“This technology is allowing us to give their life back to them for a longer period of time,” said Dr. Rishi Roy with Baptist Medical Center.

The vascular surgeon said blood clot sufferers now have a new less invasive method of removal.

Frequent fliers and travelers and those who spend a lot of time seated often develop blood clots.

The ClotTriever allows doctors to take the obstructions from big veins through a site as small as six millimeters.

“With the new technology that we have it pretty much looks like a fishing net that we deploy within the vein and then pull down through the vein which helps capture and remove the blood clots,” said Roy.

According the the physician, the new procedure helps reduce the burden of clots in the legs and the long term effects.

“Five, 10 years down the line that tends to start reoccurring and it’s because the valves in the veins do not work well, and so we can get the burden of the clot out,” said Dr. Roy. “Generally the valves will start working better, more efficiently and it does reduce the chronic pain, fatigue, swelling that patients experience”.

Doctors say the ClotTriever reduces the hospital stay from several days requiring drugs to reduce the clot to generally an overnight stay.

Five procedures have been performed since it was introduced in July.

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