Clifford and Teresa, Pulmonary Embolism
June 5, 2023
"Ambulance came in. The fire department came through. They thought because of the pressure on the chest...like heart attack," Clifford Drum said. "The EMT, she says 'I don't think so. I think you've probably got a blood clot.'"
A Pulmonary embolism is one of the most common heart and blood conditions in the world. It's often difficult to diagnose because the symptoms look like other medical conditions. In November of last year, Clifford Drum was having shortness of breath and felt dizzy. He knew something was wrong. Thanks to Saint Agnes' NEW Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT), the first in the Valley, Clifford was able to receive the care he needed right at home.
Three months later, Clifford’s daughter-in-law, Teresa, began experiencing similar symptoms. Tests revealed that she too was suffering from a clot that had traveled to her lungs. Amazingly enough, the same team at Saint Agnes performed the same procedure and, thankfully, she enjoyed the same life-saving result.
PERT at Saint Agnes
Venous Thromboembolism (VTE), which includes both Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and Pulmonary Embolism (PE), is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. In fact, acute PE, which occurs when DVT travels to the lungs, has a mortality rate greater than 20%, making it the third leading cause of cardiovascular death after heart attack and stroke. In an effort to improve the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions, Saint Agnes has joined leading hospitals across the country in developing the Central Valley’s first multidisciplinary Pulmonary Embolism Response team (PERT). Led by physicians from our intensivist (PCCP) and interventional radiology (Forefront Radiology) groups, the PERT team has created and implemented a standardized VTE patient pathway to ensure that patients requiring an interventional consultation for venous disease are not missed. Our multimodal treatment approach includes conservative medical management, systematic lysis, and catheter-directed treatment such as thrombectomy and thrombolysis. Recent data suggests that the combination of a PERT team and thrombectomy can reduce risk by 90% in PE patients.
ABC30 News Article
New response team at Saint Agnes saves lives with minimally invasive procedure.