Local Low-Dose Thrombolytic Therapy of Peripheral Arterial Occlusions

Local thrombolytic therapy has previously been used in selected patients to treat obstructive arterial lesions.1 2 3 The methods of these earlier investigators involved insertion of a catheter into an occluding arterial lesion and continuous "blind" infusion of streptokinase in doses of 1000 to 100,000 units per hour (total dose, 100,000 to 1.6 million units) for periods of less than one day to as long as two weeks. In an effort to shorten the procedure and reduce the amount of streptokinase administered, thereby decreasing the risk of systemic bleeding, we developed a system for providing local low-dose thrombolytic therapy by direct infiltration . . .