UCLA doctors successfully ‘vacuum’ 2-foot blood clot out of patient’s heart
First in state to perform minimally invasive alternative to open-heart surgery
Todd Dunlap, 62, arrived at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center’s emergency room on Aug. 8 suffering from shortness of breath, fatigue and extreme cold. When a CT scan revealed a 24-inch clot stretching from his legs into his heart, doctors feared the mass could break loose and lodge in his lungs, blocking oxygen and killing him instantly.
(more…)