Get Out the Clot Survey Identifies Gaps in Blood Clot Care

Penumbra Inc. teamed up with our partners in the Get Out the Clot campaign to conduct a survey on the state of venous thromboembolism (VTE) care in the U.S. These findings identify important gaps in blood clot care.

VTE, which includes pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), affects up to 900,000 Americans annually, leading to approximately 100,000 deaths and imposing a financial burden of up to $10 billion in the U.S.^1,2 These staggering numbers demonstrate why it is critical that health systems across the nation establish standardized care paths that facilitate prompt diagnosis and expand access to the latest treatment innovations.

In 2024, Penumbra joined with The American Venous Forum Foundation, International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH^®), National Blood Clot Alliance, The PERT Consortium^™, and Society for Vascular Medicine together to form the Get Out the Clot campaign, an educational initiative uniting experts in VTE care to help identify gaps in patient care related to blood clot conditions, standardize care and raise awareness of the latest innovations in managing blood clot conditions.

The Get Out the Clot multidisciplinary survey of 269 healthcare professionals caring for VTE patients, including interventionalists and non-interventionalists, found gaps in PE care guidance, such as:

• More than 50% of physicians surveyed say they do not have a formal response team at their institution, such as a pulmonary embolism response team (PERT) or a venous thromboembolism response team.
• Just 35% of survey participants perceive the ultimate care decision to be made by consensus among specialties.
• Only 56% of interventionalists surveyed believe their protocols provide clear direction based on PE risk beyond medical management, and approaches vary, even for patients with the same risk profile.
• Interventionalists stated in the survey that they prefer newer treatment options, such as mechanical thrombectomy, including CAVT, in combination with anticoagulation for 33% of their high risk and 37% of their intermediate-high risk PE patients. For intermediate-low and low-risk patients, most preferred anticoagulation alone.

Despite the gaps in guidance, interventionalists are taking note of advanced technologies in VTE management, including mechanical thrombectomy and CAVT, which research shows can improve patient care in some cases.

• 79% of interventionalists believe that thrombectomy can improve patient outcomes.
• 73% of interventionalists want to see expanded use of thrombectomy and CAVT at their hospitals for PE patients.
• Proportion of interventionalists who believe these technologies offer benefits for the following results:
  • 57% for minimizing ICU stays.
  • 55% for rapidly improving hemodynamics.
• About a third of interventionalists predict a 50% or more increase in CAVT and other mechanical thrombectomy use over the next year.

The survey identified similar gaps in DVT care. Nearly half of DVT patients are treated with anticoagulation alone, but many interventionalists believe it’s time to expand the use of advanced therapies.

• Only 39% of interventionalists surveyed believe that their protocols provide clear direction for DVT care beyond medical management, and approaches vary across patient types.
• 71% of interventionalists surveyed stated that they would like to see their hospital expand use of thrombectomy for DVT.
• 70% of interventionalists believe the most recent innovations in DVT management with thrombectomy improve patient outcomes.
• 67% of interventionalists believe that management of appropriate DVT patients with thrombectomy reduces healthcare resource burden.
• 59% of interventionalists want more providers to be trained in the thrombectomy approach.

See the survey infographic at GetOuttheClot.com.

About the Survey

The Get Out the Clot Survey was an online, quantitative opinion survey conducted by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, National Blood Clot Alliance, Penumbra, The PERT Consortium™ and the Society for Vascular Medicine. The survey was fielded between October and November 2024 and included responses from 269 healthcare professionals (HCPs; 143 of whom were interventionalist physicians and 126 of whom were non-interventionalist physicians) treating patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) including both pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, June). Impact of Blood Clots on the United States. National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD). https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/infographic-impact.html. Accessed February 21, 2024.
2. Beckman M, Hooper WC, Critchley S, Ortel T. Venous thromboembolism: a public health concern. Am J Prev Med. 2010;38(4 Suppl):S495-501.