Techniques in dosing for thrombolysis of occluded central venous catheters.

Dosing of thrombolytic agents for restoration of flow to thrombotically occluded central venous catheters has been empiric. The lowest effective dose of any agent is not known. Given that none of the dosing regimens in current use has ever been found to be toxic, this is probably not a major clinical problem as long as the regimen is highly effective. Thrombolytic regimens differ in the type of drug, dose of drug, method of administration (injection versus prolonged infusion), and duration of administration. All of these variables are important in determining the efficacy, and possibly the toxicity, of a regimen. Active research is being conducted to determine the most effective ways of using the expanding number of thrombolytic medications that are now, or soon may be, on the market. Copyright 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company