Dr Lyn Murray is one of 12 local patients with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism (PE) who’s undergone the new, minimally invasive technique which delivers medication directly into the blood clot.

Wollongong is one of just three hospitals in the country with the machine, the facilities and the trained staff required to perform the advanced procedure.

It’s a gamechanger according to vascular surgeon Dr Laurencia Villalba, who led the charge to get the AngioJet machine to the city.

‘’I lost a patient to PE a couple of years ago and felt extremely helpless,’’ Dr Villalba said.  ‘’So I undertook some training with renowned US vascular surgeon Jeffrey Wang, before implementing the treatment here.’’

The machine was initially used to dissolve blood clots in patients’ arms and legs in cases of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Now it’s been extended to treat PE, a condition where one of more of the arteries of the lungs become blocked by a clot.

‘’Up until recently if someone developed a clot in the lung there was a mortality rate of about 60 per cent in three months,’’ Dr Villalba said. ‘’That’s because traditional treatment uses blood thinning medication to try and stop the progression of the clot, but it didn’t dissolve the clot.

‘’The AngioJet machine delivers a special medication through high pressure jets that actually penetrate the clot. It firstly fragments the clot to relieve the pressure immediately so the heart can pump, and over the next 20 minutes to two hours the clot dissolves completely.’’

All 12 patients who’ve undergone the procedure at Wollongong have survived, and have had no residual clotting after four weeks.

For Dr Murray, having the treatment available locally literally meant the difference between life and death. She was promptly diagnosed with a massive PE on arrival at Wollongong Hospital late last year after collapsing at home.

‘’I knew I was in serious trouble because I was virtually unable to breathe. It was quite terrifying,’’ she said.

Dr Villalba performed the treatment under local anaesthetic, inserting a small tube through a vein in Dr Murray’s groin which then advanced straight through the heart into her lung arteries.

‘’The procedure gave me instant relief. ...I recovered quite rapidly from the procedure, and have had no problems since,’’ Dr Murray said.

Dr Villalba said the procedure was only possible at Wollongong Hospital due to the two hybrid operating theatres in the Illawarra Surgical Services Centre, which combine medical imaging and surgery.