DVTs-What are they and can we prevent them?
Happy Holidays and welcome to the our newest blog entry on a potentially life- threating entity. DVT stands for deep vein thrombosis and it can happen to almost anyone.
It can be self-limited or it may progress to cause other serious problems. It can present with minimal symptoms like calf pain or foot swelling or more dramatically with total leg pain, swelling and discoloration. If the DVT travels to your lungs; chest pain, shortness of breath or passing out may be present. The people who are particularly at high risk are those patients who tend to have inherited or acquired propensity to be clot formers. The risks for DVT formation increases with age especially for the elderly over age 60. These include people with inherited abnormalities in the process of normal clot formation. Typically parents or grandparents or siblings may have the same disorders. Treatment for these individuals may require compression stockings, frequent ambulation or even daily medication (blood thinners) to decrease the chances of forming new or additional unwanted clots.
Increase acquired risks for forming DVTs may include pregnant patients, patients on birth control pill, clot forming syndromes associated with certain types of cancers, trauma patients, patients with recent surgery especially total knee and hip replacement, bedridden hospitalized patients, and patients who recently experienced long plane or car trips. These patients may form DVTs days or weeks after exposure to such events.
Prevention, high index of suspicion and early diagnosis is of course the best way to minimize the potential serious consequences of DVTs. Proper diagnosis should begin with a full medical history, comprehensive ultrasound exam, specific blood lab tests, and if indicated specific CT or MRI scans of lungs and perhaps pelvic vessels. If the clot travels to the lungs it is called a pulmonary embolus and it poses a true life-threatening problem. Although occassionaly diagnosed in a vein specialist’s office, once confirmed follow-up testing and treatment should begin immediately at your nearest hospital. Treatment may include both injectable and oral blood thinners, compression stockings, daily ambulation and depending on the location of the clot, and perhaps early minimally invasive technigues to break the DVT down. This new approach is not done at all hospitals, but if a clot is less than 2 weeks old, early treatment may help prevent many future problems with recurrent leg pain and DVT formation. Please remember the earlier the proper diagnosis is made the better your chances of surviving such a event. Do not ignore any of the early symptoms as they may help to save you or a loved one’s life.
