thrombolysis
Meaning of thrombolysis: Thrombolysis uses medication to actively dissolve an existing blood clot, distinct from anticoagulation, which only prevents new clots from forming.
Definition of thrombolysis
Thrombolysis is the process of breaking down a thrombus, or blood clot, that is blocking normal blood flow, generally accomplished using medications called thrombolytics that activate the body's own clot dissolving system. These medications can be given systemically through an intravenous line or delivered more directly through a catheter guided to the site of the clot.
Thrombolysis is used in conditions where a blood clot is causing an urgent blockage, such as certain strokes caused by a clot in a brain artery, a blood clot in the lungs called a pulmonary embolism, or a blocked coronary artery during a heart attack, since restoring blood flow quickly can limit damage to the affected tissue.
Thrombolysis differs from anticoagulation, which uses medication to reduce the blood's tendency to form new clots but does not actively dissolve a clot that is already present, a distinction that affects which situations call for one approach rather than the other.
How thrombolysis is built
- thromb/o Combining form · Greek clot, clotting
- -lysis Suffix · Greek breakdown, destruction, separation
A medical term is read from its ending backwards: the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root. See all 223 word parts.
Used in a sentence
Thrombolysis was administered promptly after imaging confirmed a clot causing the acute ischemic stroke.
Good to know
Thrombolysis actively dissolves an existing clot, while anticoagulation only prevents new clot formation, a distinction that determines which approach is appropriate for a given urgent blockage.
Word origin
Where “thrombolysis” comes from
Formed from Greek thrombos, meaning clot, and lysis, meaning a loosening or dissolution.