In fact, doctors helped reduce the risk of severe bleeding by using blood-thinning drug currently the primary alternative to clot busters for pulmonary emboli.
Clots often form in the lungs in patients bedridden after surgery, or for other medical reasons.
The clot-buster drugs dissolve the clots and help restore full blood flow. A pulmonary embolism occurs when a clot gets caught in the lungs. It can cause shortness of breath, chest pain, or if the clot's large enough, death. More than 300,000 patients are treated for pulmonary emboli each year in the United States. However, Goldhaber concedes the debate over use of clot busters for pulmonary embolism is far from over.