A UA professor of radiology is one of only 32 doctors nationwide using a newly approved device to dissolve blood clots in patients with kidney disease.

Dr. Gerald D. Pond is using the "clot buster" at University Medical Center, where he is head of the section of vascular/interventional radiology. Pond and UMC staff are the only ones in Arizona using the device.

The device, which received Food and Drug Administration approval a few months ago, consists of a long, narrow plastic tube with a wire shaft inside. At the end tip of the tube is an impeller, a type of propeller, which spins at up to 150,000 revolutions p er minute, he said.

The tube is inserted in the body where a blood clot has formed, creating a whirlpool of fluid that dissolves the clot without touching the person, Pond said. The procedure requires only a one-tenth inch incision, he said.

The device is currently FDA approved for use in patients with kidney failure who are undergoing dialysis treatment. Dialysis treatment requires that a person have an operation to insert a plastic tube, called a hemodialysis fistula, in the arm to connect an artery and vein. Pond said these tubes become clotted on average every nine months to a year, and that typically means the patient has to undergo another operation to clear the clot.

"Patients would typically go through 20 operations in their lifetime. This device basically liquefies the clot and is much easier and cheaper for the patient," Pond said.

Dialysis treatment involves the removal of blood from the body for treatment. The blood is run through a machine and a series of membranes to remove toxins from the blood, replacing the work kidneys are unable to do, Pond said. The fistula tube is necessa ry because without a connection between the blood flows of veins and arteries, the machine would be too much for the blood flow of the body.

The clot buster procedure takes between a half-hour and a hour, as opposed to the much longer time and risk involved in an operation, Pond said. The patient also saves money on operating room costs. The device is driven by air, and the speed is variable a nd controlled by a foot pedal, he said.

The clot buster's original concept was designed by Dr. Kurt Amplatz at the University of Minnesota in 1989. It was developed and manufactured by Microvena Corp.

Rudy Mazzocchi, Microvena president, said the device is a breakthrough because it is the first mechanical device approved by the FDA, and it replaces the dated methods of surgery and drug treatment with a procedure that takes only minutes.

"We can offer a cost effective, safe and effective alternative to a difficult surgery or to drugs with tremendous side effects, which is great for the patients," Mazzocchi said.

Pond said that some of the limitations of the clot buster are that it can't go around corners very well, and that it is not yet refined enough for use in the heart. He said the machines are very expensive, and that there are cases when the shaft will frac ture.

"It is a pain, but it is not something that causes injury to the patient. We just have to get another tube, and the patient is charged for that," he said.

Although the clot buster only has one approved use, Pond has also used it to treat a blood clot in the lungs of a patient. He said he got a "humanitarian exemption" to the FDA approval restrictions because the man had no other options and would have died. He called his procedure a "striking success," and the man is doing well now, he said.

"I will use (the clot buster) anytime I think it will benefit the patient and not put them at risk, whether or not the FDA has approved it," Pond said.

---

Daily Wildcat News Opinions Sports PoliceBeat Comics Sohcahtoa