Houston VA has New Tool to treat Pulmonary Embolism
The day before the Super Bowl, Army Veteran Cashin Clay was walking to his car after having lunch with friends and felt shortness of breath and chest pain.
Hoping a good night’s rest would help him feel better, the 67-year-old went to bed. The following day, Clay was scheduled to go to a Super Bowl party, but still felt bad.
“That day I walked around slowly and had trouble breathing,” said Clay, who served on active duty as an Army officer from 1979 to 1983 and several years in the Army reserve.
“Come Super Bowl time, my sister decided it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to go and might be in my best interest to go to the hospital.”
Clay checked into the emergency department at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and after several tests, he was told he had a blood clot in his lung.
“Because a blood clot obstructs blood supply to the lung, it causes a sudden shortness of breath,” said Dr. Mirza Khalid, an interventional cardiologist and member of the Houston VA Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT). “If it's a huge blockage, these patients can potentially have drop in blood pressure, decreased oxygenation, strain on the heart and rhythm disturbances.”
To remove the blood clot, Dr. Mirza performed a thrombectomy procedure which involves a vascular access in the groin and insertion of a catheter tube through the blood vessel.
“Once the tube is in the lung, a small funnel comes out from the tube and sucks the clot into the funnel and out of the body,” said Dr Khalid. “Then we take a picture to see if any further clot is left behind, so we could remove more if needed”.
While Houston VA has performed thrombectomy procedures for about the past year, it used the new AlphaVac System for the first time – the latest aspiration device approved by the FDA.
“This is a relatively newer type of therapy for pulmonary embolism,” said Dr. Khalid. “Previously it used to require major surgery to open up the chest and remove the blood clot. But now we have new ways of taking out this blood clot through the blood vessel without requiring a surgery."
While he may have missed the big game with his friends, Clay said he is grateful Houston VA was there for him when he needed it most.
“Dr. Khalid was very knowledgeable and professional during every step of the process,” said Clay, a retired elementary school principal. “I was initially terrified about the procedure, but it was relatively painless. I salute Dr. Khalid and his phenomenal team.”