tPA by Endovascular Administration for the Treatment of Submassive PE Using CDT for the Reduction of Thrombus Burden

The Bashir™ Endovascular Catheter has been designed to administer therapeutic agents in the peripheral vasculature. Because of the unique design of the catheter, with its six expandable infusion limbs, the Bashir™ Endovascular Catheter has the ability to: 1. Create a much larger central channel for blood flow, thereby utilizing the body's own endogenous fibrinolytic agents to lyse the clot, and 2. Greatly enhance the radial dispersion of a catheter-administered thrombolytic agent throughout the thrombus. Expansion of the multiple arms of the basket in the infusion catheter causes fissuring of the clot. The net result is that a greater surface area of clot is exposed to both endogenous and exogenously administered lytic agents, thereby promoting clot dissolution. This study will utilize the Bashir™ Endovascular Catheter and the Bashir Endovascular Catheter with a short basket (BASHIR™ S-B endovascular catheter) to administer catheter directed thrombolysis in patients with submassive PE who have consented and meet all eligibility criteria. The Bashir™ and BASHIR™ S-B endovascular catheters represent a new methodology for localized catheter-based delivery of thrombolytics. The thrombolytic to be used in this study is r-tPA (Genentech Corporation, South San Francisco, USA). The design of the Bashir Endovascular Catheter with the multiple infusion limbs creating a basket-like formation when expanded, provides an immediate channel for blood flow through the thrombus and a greater surface area in the thrombus for the endogenous and exogenous thrombolytics to take effect, as described above.