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Ed Yeates Reporting ...Remarkable new hope for people at risk, of Pulmonary Embolisms. That's the same condition that killed NBC correspondent David Bloom.
The New England Journal of Medicine today released a 4-year landmark study which had its roots right here in Salt Lake City.
The results of the study here at LDS Hospital and 51 other centers around the country was so dramatic - it was actually halted two years early.
The clinical trials involved a low dose of the drug warfarin.
Pulmonary embolisms killed NBC correspondent David Bloom last week while he was covering the war in Iraq.
Like more than a half million people in this country, blood clots formed in the deep veins of his leg- then traveled to the lungs.
What he probably felt at that point is what Arlene Arnold felt three and a half years ago.
Arlene Arnold/Patient: "I WENT OUT TO MOW MY LAWN AND I COULDN'T WALK TEN FEET WITHOUT BEING COMPLETELY BREATHLESS."
Arlene began taking a high dose of a blood thinning drug called warfarin. But like a two edged sword, while it eliminated the risk of blood clots - it dramatically increased her risk of bleeding.
But these new studies now show patients who take an unprecedented LOWER dose of the drug get the same benefits - NO CLOTS -without increasing the risk of bleeding.
Arlene Arnold/Patient: "TO BE ABLE TO BE ON IT NOW WITH A LESSER RISK OF US BLEEDING IS JUST INCREDIBLE."
Like Arlene, David Bloom most likely had a genetic predisposition for blood clots but never knew it.
His cramped position riding in a tank and sleeping with his legs pulled up under his chin probably triggered the formation of clots.
Gregory Elliott, M.D. / Pulmonary Medicine, LDS Hospital: "IN EVERYDAY LIFE, WE THINK IMMOBILITY OR INACTIVITY CONTRIBUTES TO THE FORMATION OF BLOOD CLOTS."
Dr. Gregory Elliott who headed up the study here in Salt Lake, says what happened to Bloom - has happened historically to people in previous wars.
Dr. Elliott: "IT GOES BACK TO THE BOMB SHELTERS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHERE PATIENTS OR INDIVIDUALS IN GREAT BRITAIN STAYED BELOW GROUND OR STAYED IN CHAIRS FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME."
The clinical trials on warfarin are extremely significant since physicians can now treat patients LONG TERM with the lower dose drug - without fear of side effects.
