SIR 2017 has received the first-ever briefing on the results of the long-awaited ATTRACT Trail from study leader, Suresh Vedantham, MD, FSIR.
The Acute Venous Thrombosis: Thrombus Removal with Adjunctive Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis (ATTRACT) Trial compared two treatment strategies for DVT in a randomized, multicenter trial and will serve as the basis for future, evidence-based guidance on how to treat various forms of DVT. The ATTRACT Trial received its primary support from the National Institutes of Health, with additional support from the SIR Foundation and four companies—Boston Scientific, BSN Medical, Covidien (now Medtronic), and Genentech. The companies played no role in the study design, execution, or data analysis.
The trial found that most patients with DVT, a dangerous blood clot that forms in a deep leg vein, should continue to be treated with anticoagulant drugs alone, without undergoing a procedure-based intervention. However, the study also showed that a minimally invasive catheter-directed therapy known as pharmacomechanical catheter-directed thrombolysis (PCDT) that provides greater relief of initial leg pain and swelling and is likely to prevent disability in certain DVT patients. PCDT is a minimally invasive treatment that removes clots through a tiny incision—2–3 mm long—using a clot-busting drug along with catheter-driven devices that mechanically break up clots.
The study suggests that patients who received PCDT were less likely to develop moderate-to-severe post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS). Because patients with the largest blood clots, known as iliofemoral DVT, are more likely to develop PTS, they appear to be the most likely to benefit from PCDT.
You can read a summary of the results here.