November 21, 2011: Each year, more than 600,000 Americans are stricken with a pulmonary embolism (PE), which is a clot in the lung. Without immediate help, almost half of these individuals may develop pulmonary hypertension, or worse, die. More Americans die each year from a PE than from AIDS, breast cancer and motor vehicle accidents combined. The current method of treatment has been high doses (100 mg) of a clot-dissolving drug administered intravenously over a two-hour period, or the use of anticoagulants. Unfortunately, high doses of clot-dissolving drugs have shown to cause bleeding, the worst of which is a hemorrhage in the brain. Anticoagulants help prevent more clot build up, but do not dissolve the blood clot. If your body does not dissolve the clot fast enough, the right side of the heart becomes enlarged trying to push blood past the clot and heart failure could occur.