pe blood clot

pe blood clot


 What is a Blood Clot?


Blood clotting or coagulation is a normal but complex body process that is designed to prevent bleeding in response to damage or cutting. However, blood clots form in critical locations such as the heart, lung or brain and can sometimes cause serious complications if not treated in time.

Clots can occur in the arterial and venous blood vessels. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry fresh and oxygenated blood away from the heart and around the body (apart from the pulmonary arteries that carry blood to the lungs), while the veins are the vessels that carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart of rest of the body.

Arterial thrombosis
A blood clot that forms in an artery or arterial thrombus is a very dangerous clot that can obstruct the flow of blood to important organs and cause complications such as travel, transient ischemic attack (TIA or mini-travel), seizure heart, or peripheral arterial disease.

Venous Thrombosis
A venous thrombus can occur in the deep veins of the body such as a deep vein in the leg or a blood vessel in the lung. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) usually occurs in the large veins of the calf or thigh where it causes pain and inflammation. A piece of the clot can also stand out and travel to the lungs where it can lodge and create another blockage. This is a life-threatening complication of deep vein thrombosis called pulmonary embolism (PE). DVT and PE collectively are called venous thromboembolism or VTE.

Risks associated with blood clots
Thrombosis and its complications are one of the causes of head death and disability throughout the world. The condition is more common in individuals aged for 40 years but people can develop the condition at any age.

Some of the factors that increase the risk of thrombosis include:

Family history of thrombosis, DVT and PE
Damage to the blood vessel as a result of infection, surgery or inflammation
Some medications such as oral contraceptive pills and hormone replacement therapy
Obesity and the fat being
The females are more at risk of VTE, certain pregnant women.
Being inactive for long periods of time. If you rest a person up in the base for long periods after major surgery, for example, the risk of VTE rises dramatically. Some examples of serious illnesses that can lead to prolonged periods of bed rest include damage from heart attack, cardiac arrest, stroke and spinal cord.
Symptoms of thrombosis
The symptoms of a blood clot range from mild to severe. In DVT, classic symptoms include:

Pain and swelling in one leg, usually the calf
Sensation of heat in the area where the clot has formed.
Redness of the skin, determined behind and below the elbow.
In patients with PE, symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain that worsens on inhalation, a cough that can produce blood, and sawing the weak thread or passing out.