If You Have DVT Your Help Is Needed!

New Clinical ATTRACT DVT Trial: A new clinical trial, the ATTRACT Trial, is now open for patient enrollment. This study will determine if the use of new clot-busting treatments for patients with large blood clots of the leg (deep vein thrombosis or DVT) prevents long-term disability.

Despite the use of standard blood-thinning drugs, 25- 50 percent of DVT patients will develop the postthrombotic syndrome (PTS), a long-term condition that typically causes daily pain, heaviness, fatigue and swelling of the leg. Because these symptoms are aggravated by standing or walking, affected patients are often forced to alter their daily activities to include periods of rest or leg elevation in order to avoid severe pain and swelling. In the more severe cases, PTS can lead to an inability to walk without pain, inability to hold a steady job or perform household duties, changes in leg skin color and texture, and/or open sores (leg ulcers). As a result, PTS has been shown to significantly reduce quality of life in DVT patients.

Preliminary studies suggest that patients who have their blood clots removed using new clot-busting treatments may be less likely to develop PTS. However, because these procedures are somewhat more invasive and costly up front, doctors do not agree on when to use them. The ATTRACT Trial is being performed to answer this important question.

The ATTRACT Trial is primarily sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health and additional support is being provided by BSN Medical, Covidien – Bacchus Vascular, Genentech and Medrad Interventional – Possis. For more information, please visit the ATTRACT Trial Web site at www.attract.wustl.edu or call 866.974.CLOT (2568).