Thrombolysis
Thrombolysis is the pharmacological destruction of blood clots by administering thrombolytic drugs including recombinant tissue plasminogen activator, which enhances the normal destruction of blood clots by the bodys enzymes. This carries an increased risk of bleeding so is generally only used for specific situations (such as severe stroke or a massive pulmonary embolism). Surgery
Arterial thrombosis may require surgery if it causes acute limb ischemia. Endovascular treatment
Mechanical clot retrieval and catheter-guided thrombolysis are used in certain situations. Antiplatelet agents
Arterial thrombosis is platelet-rich, and inhibition of platelet aggregation with antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin may reduce the risk of recurrence or progression. Targeting ischemia/reperfusion injury
With reperfusion comes ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury (IRI), which paradoxically causes cell death in reperfused tissue and contributes significantly to post-reperfusion mortality and morbidity. For example, in a feline model of intestinal ischemia, four hours of ischemia resulted in less injury than three hours of ischemia followed by one hour of reperfusion. In ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), IRI contributes up to 50% of final infarct size despite timely primary percutaneous coronary intervention. This is a key reason for the continued high mortality and morbidity in these conditions, despite endovascular reperfusion treatments and continuous efforts to improve timeliness and access to these treatments. Hence, protective therapies are required to attenuate IRI alongside reperfusion in acute ischemic conditions to improve clinical outcomes. Therapeutic strategies that have potential to improve clinical outcomes in reperfused STEMI patients include remote ischemic conditioning (RIC), exenatide, and metoprolol. These have emerged amongst a multitude of cardioprotective interventions investigated with largely neutral clinical data.
Life cycle
Life cycle in definitive hosts
Adult worms are found in a tumor located in the gastric wall of the definitive hosts and release eggs into the hosts digestive tract. The eggs are then released with feces and in about a week hatch in water to develop into first stage larva. Larvae are then ingested by minute copepods of the genus Cyclops. Once entering the copepod, the larvae penetrate the gastric wall of their intermediate host and begin to develop into second-stage and even early third-stage larvae. The copepods are then ingested by a second intermediate host such as fish, frogs, or snakes. Within this second intermediate or definitive host the larva repeat a similar pattern of penetrating the gastric wall, but then continue to migrate to muscular tissue and develop into advanced third-stage larvae. These larvae then encyst within the musculature of the new host. If the cyst containing flesh of these hosts is ingested by a definitive host, such as dogs, and cats, the cysts are ingested and the larvae escape the cysts and penetrate the gastric wall. These released larvae travel to the connective tissue and muscle as observed before and after 4 weeks they return to the gastric wall as adults. Here they form a tumor and continue to mature into adults for the next 6–8 months. Worms mate and females begin to excrete fertilized eggs with feces 8–12 months after ingestion of cysts. They are passed out in the feces and eaten by another fish.