In medical terminology blood clot in lungs is known as pulmonary embolism. In this condition an artery in the lungs get blocked by blood clot. In many cases several blood clots are found in these arteries which results in blockage of fuel supply to the lung tissues.
Blood clot in lungs
As a result of this damage is caused to the lung tissues which may eventually die. It adversely affects the lungs function and fails to maintain proper supply of oxygen to various parts of the body. Its symptoms are breathing difficulty, chest pain, and wheezing.
These blood clots in lungs are diagnosed by a series of laboratory tests including lung scan, ultrasound, chest X-ray, and pulmonary angiogram and so on. The widely used process for treating blood clots is blood thinning medicines and anticoagulants which slow down the process of blood clot formation. These medications are highly effective in preventing increase in the size of blood clots. These medications are available in the form of pills and injections.
Human body has the ability to dissolve these blood clots on their own but in some cases where the size of blood clot is big and symptoms are serious doctor’s recommends medicines for dissolving them. Thrombolytics is one of the medicines which are used for treating it.
These medicines can cause severe bleeding so doctors advice them only in emergency situations. Sometimes apart from medicinal treatment in some cases surgical treatment are also used to remove the clot that are big in size. In this treatment doctors use a thin flexible tube known as catheter to remove these clots. So these are some of the effective treatments used for treating blood clots in lungs.