What if I can’t take blood thinners, or the clot is really big?
If you can't take blood thinners, your doctor may recommend surgical placement of a vena cava filter -- a tiny umbrella-like device -- inside the vein above the clot. It can catch a dislodged clot within the vein and keep it from traveling to your lungs.
The size of the clot does not matter as much as the location (lower leg-lower risk vs pelvis-higher risk) and the symptoms for the selection of treatment.
No matter the size of the clot the standard of care remains anticoagulation (blood thinners) and in selected patients with high risk DVTs causing significant symptoms clot busters (thrombolytics) can be used.
