Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital performs its first thrombectomy

Orlando, FL (December 12, 2024) Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital is celebrating the completion of its first percutaneous pulmonary thrombectomy, a life-saving procedure that removes blood clots from the pulmonary artery.

Prakrut Patel, MD, FACC, led the cardiac catheterization laboratory team to perform the minimally invasive technique on St. Cloud resident Barbara Gilbert, 74. A small needle and catheter were used, with an X-ray as guidance, to extract the six-inch blood clot from her lung.

Gilbert was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism, a condition that causes a blood clot to migrate from the veins of a person’s lower extremities to the lungs through the right side of the heart.

According to the American Lung Association, pulmonary embolism affects around 900,000 people in the United States every year.

“Pulmonary embolism is the third leading cause of cardiovascular death, which is why a thrombectomy needs to be performed quickly and efficiently,” Dr. Patel said. “Patients in our community can now receive this crucial treatment at Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital and possibly recover at home within a few days.”

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health is a private not-for-profit, integrated academic healthcare system with $12 billion of assets under management, that serves the southeastern United States – including Florida and Alabama – and Puerto Rico. With corporate offices in Orlando, Florida the system provides a complete continuum of care across a network of medical centers and institutes, community and specialty hospitals, physician practices, urgent care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare, and long-term and behavioral health care services. Founded more than 100 years ago, Orlando Health’s mission is to improve the health and the quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve. The system provided nearly $1.7 billion in community impact in the form of community benefit programs and services, Medicare shortfalls, bad debt, community-building activities and capital investments in FY 23, the most recent period for which the information is available. For more information, visit orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter.)