Updated: 21-07-2025
This article mainly describes the key points, such as what thrombolytic therapy is, what it is used for, what the guidelines are, and many other major aspects.
Thrombolytic therapy for stroke or other conditions is a drug that is used to dissolve clots in the blood vessels.
What are the main causes of heart attacks, strokes, and brain strokes, leading to paralysis and other major health issues?
What is Thrombolytic Therapy and its Uses, Side Effects
What is thrombolytic therapy?
Thrombolytic therapy, also known as thrombolysis, is a treatment to dissolve critical clots from the blood vessels for the regular, smooth flow of the blood.
This thrombolytic therapy for stroke or other uses a drug that should be given within a few hours of a stroke or heart attack to restore the body’s functionality.
A blood clot may occur in any part of the body, and if not treated at the proper time, it may cause critical damage to those body parts, which leads to deadly defects.
Many types of research suggest and prove that using this thrombolytic therapy at the correct time can prevent various life-threatening diseases and also can amazingly reverse the paralysis caused by brain damage.
People with pre-existing disabilities can make use of their insurance benefits, like the NDIS funds, to cover the cost of this therapy.
What is thrombolytic therapy for stroke?
Generally, Thrombolytic therapy for stroke
are caused by the formation of blood clots in the brain area, or the blood clots that are moved to the blood vessels in the brain block the blood flow and cause severe damage to the health, which may lead to brain death, paralysis, heart attacks, or strokes etc.
Thrombolytic therapy for stroke is generally known as ischaemic strokes.
These can be solved with thrombolytic therapy, which helps in the quick dissolution from the brain.
If the thrombolysis treatment is given within a few hours after stroke, it reduces brain death and damage to the body, decreases the chances of disability, avoids paralysis caused due to brain death, etc.
The decision of thrombolytic treatment is finalised depending on the following factors:
- A brain CT scan to check for internal bleeding in the brain
- A physical exam on various aspects that show stroke significance.
- Medical history and health conditions are also considered.
What is a thrombolytic therapy agent, or what is a thrombolytic agent?
Drugs used in thrombolytic therapy
The thrombolytic drug used in therapy is known as a thrombolytic agent.
These drugs are given in the form of injections to dissolve blood clots in the body.
There is a variety of drugs used in thrombolytic therapy, which is used to treat blood clots and dissolve them when they form in various parts of the body.
Below are the drugs listed for the treatment of therapy.
- Alteplase (Activase)
- Anistreplase (Eminase)
- Streptokinase (Streptase, Kabikinase)
- Urokinase (Abbokinase)
- Tissue plasminogen activator (TPA)
- Retavase (reteplase)
- TNKase (tenecteplase)
- Abbokinase, Kinlytic (rokinase)
Depending on the circumstances, patient health conditions, and the diseases or defects in the body, the treatment is further preceded by specialist doctors.
What is the thrombolytic therapy dosage of the drugs?
Drugs Dosage
The dosage of the drugs purely depends on the purpose of the treatment and the patient’s health condition; in some cases, a patient’s weight can also be considered to treat with proper therapy.
Precautions of Thrombolytic Therapy
- This treatment should be given immediately, within a few hours of a heart attack or stroke.
- Not all patients may be suitable for this therapy, as there are chances of an increase in risk factors.
- The final decision on the thrombolytic drug treatment should be made by a professional doctor, or else it may cost our lives.
- It is recommended to get medical help for those who are at risk of getting strokes or heart attacks, which increases their survival chances and decreases their risk factors.
- Always consider taking the correct dose that suits the body’s functionality to work properly under the guidance of doctors.
- Do not try to take this therapy without the doctor’s presence, and never do it by yourself or with family members.
Medical conditions that may increase the risk of using thrombolytic agents
Thrombolytic therapy increases bleeding in people who may suffer from the following problems or conditions.
Thus, there should be proper medical counselling before the treatment and an in-depth discussion regarding the medical procedures, if any, or the health conditions.
- Bleeding problems in the past or current days.
- Blood disorders
- Heart or blood vessel diseases
- Strokes at any time in life
- Brain diseases or tumours
- High Blood Pressure
- Liver diseases
- Stomach ulcers or clots
- active tuberculosis
- Recent pregnancy details or delivery details
- Tubes, if any place in the body
- Injections in Blood vessels or other major parts of the body
- Any type of surgery, including dental surgery
Side effects of thrombolytic therapy
The side effects vary for every individual.
A person who is treated with thrombolytic therapy experiences internal bleeding in the body.
They can check for bleeding through the following symptoms and need to consult a doctor immediately if any of these are seen.
- Blood in the urine
- Blood or Black in stools
- Constipation
- Blood coughing
- Blood vomiting
- Nosebleeds
- Unusual heavy vaginal bleeding?
- Dizziness?
- Severe, constant headache?
- Swelling or pain in the abdomen
Results from the thrombolytic therapy treatment
- Usually, thrombolytic therapy treatment is successful for many people and results in a healthy life.
- But many cases proved that around 25% of the patients don’t dissolve the blood clots formed in the body after the therapy.
- Almost 12% of the people redeveloped blood clots or blockages after the therapy, especially in the blood vessels.
Share this article on “What is Thrombolytic Therapy” among your loved ones and make them aware of the pros and cons of this therapy.
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Author’s Bio: Ashreetha Pendkar is a healthcare writer; she loves to read healthcare content and spread her words about the importance of health to near & dear ones.