Evidence Summary

The key questions addressed in this summary are whether clot removal should be part of the preferred therapy for patients with acute deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and whether there is evidence that a strategy of thrombus removal offers better outcomes for patients than anticoagulation alone. Evidence is defined as an outward sign or something that furnishes proof. Evidence in medicine is not limited to direct, blinded comparisons of one form of treatment compared with another but rather the body of knowledge that provides insight to clinicians to offer patient care. Evidence-based medicine follows from information available to form the foundation for the use of a treatment for a specific disease. Reports of strategies of thrombus removal for acute DVT, especially in patients with iliofemoral DVT, consistently demonstrate improved outcomes relative to postthrombotic morbidity. This summary reviews the evidence supporting this strategy as the preferred initial management of patients with extensive proximal DVT. (J Vasc Surg 2012;55: 607-11.)