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DVT treatment options

By Archived User | Updated: Dec 31, 2021 | Published: Dec 31, 2021

Hi, a colleague of mine has history of DVT at his right leg and recently had a scratch at the lower leg below the knee from moving. The wound had gotten bigger as 4cm and the pain is excruciating. He has been seeing a vascular surgeon for treatment for a month now. Other then wound care every two weeks, any suggestions from the Chinese or herbal meds? The skin will eventually need a graft but the underlying problem, DVT is pending on a venogram to be performed next week as ultrasound Doppler showed the proximal femoral vein has a narrowing.

We both work at the Cath and Interventional Radiology lab. Pretty much know about DVT treatment options. What would be the suggestions from the accupuncher and the natural herbal remedies?

Thank you in advance for the help. He is not a diabetic but has DVT.

Archived Comments

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

To offer anything other than a generalized response I would have to know the patients history and consult with them directly. That said, I’ll offer some general ideas.

First, for bleeding and wound healing, herbally, Yunnan baiyao is a very famous formula that, in the right cases, can be extremely useful. A couple studies can be found on our yunnan baiyao blog section.

For prevention, which is not what you are asking, there are a host of studies supporting the use of Chinese Medicine to avoid DVT. A meta-analysis is here.

Generally for herbs you --may-- often select appropriate formulas from the “invigorate the blood and dispel blood stasis” category. But this is where it appropriate Chinese Medicine diagnostic skills are important. Technically what will work for the patient is what they, as an individual, need based on Chinese diagnostic tools (see “treating the cause vs. the symptoms” for the basics on that).

Acupuncture would be based on the patient as well, but generalizations of what you would do with acupuncture are too lengthy to get into.

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