deep vein thrombosis

Leave a comment Posted on Blood

Deep vein thrombosis – what are the cause of DVT?

Deep vein thrombosis

Deep vein thrombosis

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) sometimes occurs for no apparent reason.

However, the risk of developing DVT is increased in certain circumstances.

Inactivity

When you’re inactive your blood tends to collect in the lower parts of your body, often in your lower legs. This is usually nothing to worry about because when you start to move, your blood flow increases and moves evenly around your body.

However, if you’re unable to move for a long period of time – such as after an operation, because of an illness or injury, or during a long journey – your blood flow can slow down considerably. A slow blood flow increases the chances of a blood clot forming.

In hospital

If you have to go into hospital for an operation or procedure, your risk of getting a blood clot increases. This is because DVT is more likely to occur when you’re unwell or inactive, or less active than usual.

As a patient, your risk of developing DVT depends on the type of treatment you’re having. You may be at increased risk of DVT if any of the following apply:

you’re having an operation that takes longer than 90 minutes, or 60 minutes if the operation is on your leg, hip or abdomen

you’re having an operation for an inflammatory or abdominal condition, such as appendicitis

you’re confined to a bed, unable to walk, or spending a large part of the day in a bed or chair for at least three days

You may also be at increased risk of DVT if you’re much less active than usual because of an operation or serious injury and have other DVT risk factors, such as a family history of the condition.

When you’re admitted to hospital you’ll be assessed for your risk of developing a blood clot and, if necessary, given preventative treatment.

Blood vessel damage

If the wall of a blood vessel is damaged, it may become narrowed or blocked, which can cause a blood clot to form.

Blood vessels can be damaged by injuries such as broken bones or severe muscle damage. Sometimes, blood vessel damage that occurs during surgery can cause a blood clot, particularly in operations on the lower half of your body.

Conditions such as vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels), varicose veins and some forms of medication, such as chemotherapy, can also damage blood vessels.

Medical and genetic conditions

Your risk of getting DVT is increased if you have a condition that causes your blood to clot more easily than normal. These conditions include:

cancer – cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy can increase this risk further

heart disease and lung disease

infectious conditions, such as hepatitis

inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis

thrombophilia – a genetic condition where your blood has an increased tendency to clot

antiphospholipid syndrome – an immune system disorder that causes an increased risk of blood clots

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, blood clots more easily. It’s the body’s way of preventing too much blood being lost during childbirth.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) – DVT and pulmonary embolism – affects about one in 100,000 women of childbearing age.

DVTs are also rare in pregnancy, although pregnant women are up to 10 times more likely to develop thrombosis than non-pregnant women of the same age. A clot can form at any stage of pregnancy and up to six weeks after the birth.

Having thrombophilia (a condition where the blood has an increased tendency to clot), or having a parent, or brother or sister, who’s had a thrombosis, increase your risk of developing a DVT during pregnancy.

Other risk factors during pregnancy include:

being over 35 years old

being obese (with a BMI of 30 or more)

expecting two or more babies

having recently had a caesarean section

being immobile for long periods of time

smoking (find out how to stop smoking)

having severe varicose veins

dehydration

Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is usually used to treat pregnant women with DVT. LMWH is an anticoagulant, which means it prevents the blood clot getting bigger. It’s given by injection and doesn’t affect your developing baby.

Read more about DVT in pregnancy.

Contraceptive pill and HRT

The combined contraceptive pill and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) both contain the female hormone oestrogen. Oestrogen causes the blood to clot a bit more easily than normal, so your risk of getting DVT is slightly increased. There’s no increased risk from the progestogen-only contraceptive pill.

Other causes

Your risk of getting DVT is also increased if you or a close relative have previously had DVT and:

you’re overweight or obese

you smoke

you’re dehydrated

you’re over 60 – particularly if you have a condition that restricts your mobility

Glossary

HRT
Hormone replacement therapy or HRT involves giving hormones to women when the menopause starts, to replace those that the body no longer produces.
Vein
Veins are blood vessels that carry blood from the rest of the body back to the heart.
Blood
Blood supplies oxygen to the body and removes carbon dioxide. It is pumped around the body by the heart.
Anaesthetic
Anaesthetic is a drug used to either numb a part of the body (local), or to put a patient to sleep (general) during surgery.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a treatment of an illness or disease with a chemical substance, e.g. in the treatment of cancer.
Inflammation
Inflammation is the body’s response to infection, irritation or injury, which causes redness, swelling, pain and sometimes a feeling of heat in the affected area.
Heart
The heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood around the body.
Obesity
Obesity is when a person has an abnormally high amount of body fat.
Genetic
Genetic is a term that refers to genes- the characteristics inherited from a family member.
Leave a comment Posted on Cardiovascular disease

World Thrombosis Day 2016 – Find out about the signs, symptoms and causes of thrombosis

 

1 in 4 deaths worldwide from conditions caused by thrombosis

It is estimated that every 6 seconds a person dies from VTE globally

In England alone, 25,000 people die each year from venous thromboembolism (VTE) contracted in hospital

Thrombosis is often the underlying cause of heart attack, thromboembolic stroke and VTE, the top three cardiovascular killers

World Thrombosis Day aims to increase global awareness of the often overlooked and misunderstood condition of thrombosis

Many people know about the risks for breast cancer or heart disease, but most aren’t aware that 1 in 4 people worldwide die from conditions caused by thrombosis, more commonly known as blood clots.

Many, if not most, cases of thrombosis are preventable, and yet too many patients slip through the cracks. Approximately 60 percent of VTE cases happen to patients during or after being hospitalised or undergoing surgery. In the UK alone, up to 1 in every 1,000 are affected by venous thrombosis. This figure is higher than the combined total deaths of breast cancer, AIDS and traffic accidents, and costs the NHS an estimated £640 million annually.

Thrombosis is common, but general awareness about the condition is very low. In a 2014 global survey of nine countries conducted by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), only 68 percent of those surveyed were aware of blood clots, much lower than awareness of other potentially life-threatening health conditions such as hypertension.

Although thrombosis can affect anyone, those who are age 60 or older are at a higher risk, as are individuals undergoing surgery or cancer treatment, people who undergo long periods of immobility and women who are pregnant. That’s why it is so important for people to understand the risks factors, be able to recognise the signs & symptoms, and ask their doctors for a VTE risk assessment if they are hospitalised.

Because 1 in 4 people worldwide are dying from conditions caused by thrombosis, it will therefore be impossible to reach the World Health Assembly’s global target of reducing premature deaths from non-communicable disease by 25% by 2025 unless we address thrombosis.

This year, more than 550 medical and health organisations from every continent will participate in World Thrombosis Day, embracing thousands of educational events and bringing together in partnership patients, healthcare professionals, policy makers, research and industry supporters to place a global spotlight on thrombosis as an urgent and growing public health problem.

Thrombosis is the formation of potentially deadly blood clots. Blood clots can form in the artery (arterial thrombosis) or vein (venous thrombosis).

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is when blood clots in a deep vein (most often the leg)

Pulmonary embolism (PE) occurs when a blood clot breaks loose and travels to the lungs

Collectively, DVT and PE are known venous thromboembolism – VTE.

World Thrombosis Day (WTD) focuses attention on the often overlooked and misunderstood condition of thrombosis. It embraces thousands of educational events across the world, and brings together in partnership patients, healthcare professionals, policy makers, research and industry supporters to place a global spotlight on thrombosis as an urgent and growing public health problem

World Thrombosis Day 2016

World Thrombosis Day 2016

Leave a comment Posted on Patient Talk

World Thrombosis Day Shines Spotlight on Deadly Blood Clots – Read our interview with Dr Hillary Jones on Deep Vein Thrombosis


Dr Hilary Jones on Thrombosis

Dr Hilary Jones on Thrombosis

Last Monday 13th October saw World Thrombosis Day 2014.  To mark the day we conducted an interview with Dr Hilary Jones on the subject of Thrombosis.

But did you you know this seven important facts about thrombosis?

1) Sitting at a desk, in a car, or a train for just a 90 minute period of time can reduce blood flow behind the knee by 50%, increasing the risk of thrombosis – a blood clot
2) Other risk factors: Major surgery, such as orthopaedic or surgery for cancer, or extended time in the hospital, heart diseases, pregnancy, smoking, hormone therapy, being overweight/obesity, dehydration, family history and cancer
3) Deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot in the leg) or a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lung) kills one person every 37 seconds in the western world (1,2) – in England more than one in 1,000 adults could be affected by blood clots every year (3)
4) Blood clots can also travel to the brain causing strokes. These types of clots occur in people who have atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat) – a condition which affects over one million people in England (4)
5) New data reveals that 75% of people in the UK wouldn’t know what to expect if they experienced a blood clot in the lungs (5) – highlighting the need to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of thrombosis



6) itting at a desk, in a car, or a train for just a 90 minute period of time can increase the risk of thrombosis – a blood clot
7) There are a number of effective treatment options available to treat and prevent blood clots

The interview was conducted bu Antonia Lipinski on behalf of PatientTalk.Org.

Lipinski So what actually is DVT and why is it so dangerous?
DR JONES Well DVT stands for Deep Vein Thrombosis. This means that a blood clot forms in the veins which lie deep in the tissues of the body and this particularly affects the calf muscle veins. When people complain of pain and tenderness in the calf with swelling and redness it could be that they’ve got Deep Vein Thrombosis. The significance of Deep Vein Thrombosis is this that it is a very common disorder and it can have far reaching consequences. If a piece of the blood clot should break off into the circulation and be carried onwards towards the heart and lungs its means its can cause a pulmonary embolism. That is part of a clot that has broken off and has lodged in the lungs obstructing the oxygenising of blood and that can have very serious consequences and leads to a fair number of deaths every year.
Lipinski Who can get it?
DR JONES Well all most anybody can suffer from deep vein thrombosis. We know that it is more common with age but a young person who has had an injury, somebody who is having surgery, somebody is pregnant and somebody with a family history or a previous history of blood clots because some people have a genetic predisposition towards forming clots in the blood. All of these people, people who smoke even are more prone to blood clots so nobody is immune from blood clots and every 37 seconds one person in the Western world dies from a blood clot so that’s how significant it is.
Lipinski How is it treated?
DR JONES Well we know that we can to some extent we can prevent blood clots in people before it has actually happened. For example if somebody is having surgery we use compression stockings to increase the blood flow through the veins and prevent the stasis which occurs during the operation but more often then not somebody who has a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism we prevent further occurrences. We treat them. We anti coagulate them. PATIENTTALK.ORG Do flight socks actually work?
DR JONES Yes if they are up to the back of the knee and they are compressing the veins significantly. When someone is on a long haul flight, just as any kind of inactivity would do, it increases the blood flow through the veins and prevents the risk of blood clots so they really do help just as they do in a hospital setting or in anyone who is inactive and immobile for several hours at a time.
Lipinski How is PE different from DVT?
DR JONES Well a pulmonary embolism is where the blood clot breaks off from the leg and is carried up towards the lungs and blocks an artery which the feeds the lung with blood that is ready to be oxygenated. So somebody with a pulmonary embolism will be short of breath. They’ll have chest pain. They’ll have an increased heart rate. They might even cough up some blood and feel light headed. Also they might have no symptoms at all in the early stage as my brother didn’t when he had multiple pulmonary embolisms. Now he is a fit guy. He is an oarsman who rows to a very high standard and he had an abnormal collection of blood vessels in his thigh which he didn’t know about and he wondered why he was a bit more breathless when he was ain a rowing race. He saw a friend who happened to be a cardiologist who recognised the signs straight away. He was treated successfully and those abnormal blood vessels were removed. As I say anyone can be affected and the pulmonary embolism is much more serious because in many cases it can prove fatal if not treated quickly.
Lipinski What lifestyle changes can we make to prevent DVT?
DR JONES I think the first thing is to stop smoking because this thickens the blood and makes it stickier so blood clots are more likely to form. So giving up smoking is a really good step forward. Losing weight or normalising weight so you are not carrying too much weight is good. Reporting any kind of injury around the calf muscle particularly is important. Exercising on a regular basis because when you are using your leg muscles they are pumping and compressing in a rhythmically way the blood vessels underneath the muscle so the muscle pump is a good way of preventing blood clots and improving blood flow. So exercise, giving up smoking and just taking care of yourself are all important, normalising weight, these are all important. Probably nothing more so then recognising the signs and symptoms of DVT. It would be pain and tenderness in the calf, swelling of the ankle and foot, redness in this area, dilution of the surface veins so the veins look more prominent and an increased warmth compared to the other side. It always a good to compare the affected leg to the other side and if you have any doubts at all go and see your doctor and say could this be a DVT.

 

Further regional statistics on people diagnosed with DVT and PE in England 2010/11 can be found at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/hes

 

References

1. Cohen AT et al. Thromb Haemost. 2007; 98 (4):756-764;

2. Roger VL et al. Circulation. 2012; 125(1):e2-e220

3. From prevention to treatment; taking the pulse of NHS services. Bayer HealthCare. November 2013

4. AF Association, A Guide to AF within the Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy. December 2013

5. Data on file Bayer HealthCare. Global online survey conducted in over 20,000 adults aged 18-64 between 17th July-11th August 2014. UK sample size 1,000 adults

6. International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis. World Thrombosis Day. Available at: http://www.worldthrombosisday.org/ Last accessed October 2014

7. Patient UK. Deep vein thrombosis. Available at: http://www.patient.co.uk/health/deep-vein-thrombosis-leaflet Last accessed October 2014

8. Turpie AGG et al. BMJ. 2002; 325: 887-890

9. NHS Choices. Causes of deep vein thrombosis. Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Deep-vein-thrombosis/Pages/Causes.aspx Last accessed October 2014

10. Mayo Clinic. Deep vein thrombosis. Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/deep-vein-thrombosis/basics/symptoms/con-20031922 Last accessed October 2014

11. Life Blood, the Thrombosis Charity. Reducing the Risk of Thrombosis. http://www.thrombosis-charity.org.uk/perch/resources/1399925355-reducing-the-risk-of-e-thrombosis-crystalmark-feb-2013.pdf

1 Comment Posted on Cardiovascular disease

Atrial Fibrillation – Eve Knight CEO of Anticoagulation Europe tells about the current state of the support avaialble to people with AF


Atrial l Fib

Atrial l Fib

The NHS regulator NICE has today recommended that people taking a thinning agent can monitor their own blood levels at a time and place convenient to them. In the guidance, NICE recommends using the CoaguChek® XS self-monitoring device.

This means that more people taking a thinning agent should be able to self-monitor (or ‘SelfieChek’), rather than being tied to frequent (sometimes weekly) clinic or hospital visits to have their blood clotting levels measured. Self-monitoring allows people taking a thinning agent to enjoy a flexible lifestyle and reduces the risk of stroke for people with atrial fibrillation or a replacement heart valve.The guidance is also set to benefit the NHS by reducing the unnecessary burden that regular blood checks place on healthcare professionals’ time and resources.

PatientTalk.Org spoke to Eve Knight of Anticoagulation Europe, about the background and implications of the new regulations.  Cody conducted the interview on our behalf.

 

CODY– If you could just start by telling us a little bit about yourself, who you are, and what you do and what your role is?


EVE KNIGHT My name is Eve Knight and I’m co-founder and chief executive of the charity of the Anticoagulation Europe, chief executive basically means I’m responsible for  everything although I do have a really great team who work with me and lots and lots of volunteers around the country.

CODY So what’s the cause of the Anticoagulation Europe, what are you guys trying to achieve?

EVE KNIGHT  Anticoagulation Europe was founded 14 years ago, our aims are the prevention of thrombosis, the provision of information and support for health care professional and patients and their families and to make sure that the patient voice is at the centre of everything of the NHS does, particularly anyone who is designing anticoagulation services.

CODY Great, so were talking today about Atrial Fibrillation and some new NICE guidelines, so could you just explain to us why anyone would need to take a blood thinning agent? So what conditions require it and how does it work?

EVE KNIGHT There are a number of conditions that you would need to take an thinning agent, Atrial Fibrillation being one of them, replacements heart valves, deep vein thrombosis, Pulmonary embolism and genetic clotting conditions, the guidance that has been issued today is specifically for  Atrial Fibrillation and replacement heart valves.

CODY So how does the blood thinning work?

EVE KNIGHT It doesn’t actually thin the blood, what warfarin does is to inhibit the production of Vitamin K in your liver, vitamin K is the vitamin that causes your blood to clot and we all need our blood to clot otherwise when we cut ourselves we would bleed to death. Warfarin inhibits the production so not so much Vitamin K is produced so your blood takes longer to clot.

CODY So who does Atrial Fibrillation affect because I was reading through this today and I was surprised to find out that it actually affects quite a few young people as well as old?

EVE KNIGHT It does affect young people , the major co halt of patients are older, 1 in 8 of us by the time we are 65 will have Atrial Fibrillation but it does affect younger people and what your trying to do with warfarin is to reduce the risks of strokes and young people regrettable do have  strokes.

CODY  Do you have any idea how many people this condition affects and how many people are treated with a thinning agent at the moment?

EVE KNIGHT In the UK about 1 million and a quarter of people are on warfarin, there’s about 800,000 people diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation and approximately 40% of those are not on an Anticoagulant or they may be on aspirin and aspirin Nice have now said is no good for preventing strokes you have to be on an Anticoagulant, So there’s a huge co halt of patients who will now need to go onto an Anticoagulant.

CODY  – And that was during this year?

EVE KNIGHT That was in June this year yes.

CODY  – Do you know why they decided to make that recommendation?

EVE KNIGHT  – Well this was a complete update of their 2006 guidance and they made several new points, it’s long been thought or known that aspirin is not as effective as warfarin as preventing strokes and yet it carries virtually the same bleeding risks. So finally the sway of opinion has come together on that and NICE have said that aspirin no longer be used as a mono therapy in preventing strokes for AF.

CODY – So someone on this kind of treatment, how often do they have to visit a clinic or a hospital for check-ups?

EVE KNIGHT That depends very much, everybody on thinning agent will be given a therapeutic range and that will differ depending on the condition for which you’re taking it. In the first few weeks when you go onto a thinning agent you are very likely to be very unstable so you may be going every 3 days/ twice a week, it will for most people eventually settle down and then for a lot of people it varies between once a week and once every six weeks.

CODY  – So even when it settles down it’s a lot of visits?

EVE KNIGHT – It’s a lot of visits and it does very much depend, you know a thinning agent is quite an unstable product with a very narrow therapeutic window. So things you would normally do, things you would eat, things you drink, other things  you take, all of these can have an effect on a thinning agent and make it go up or down and that would mean you go out of your range and if you go too high out of your range you’re at risk of a bleed and too low out of your range you at the risk of a clot and if your dose, if your range is varying, then you dose will need to be altered.

CODY – Can you briefly just explain the role that NICE plays?  Who they are to be issuing recommendations?

EVE KNIGHT NICE is the body that issues recommendations and regulations for what is used drugs or diagnostic tools within the NHS.

CODY So they have recommended that people can now monitor their blood levels at home.  Can you explain a little bit about how the CoaguChek device works?

EVE KNIGHT NICE have recommended for people with AF and replacement heart valves that self-monitoring is clinically effective, it’s safe and it’s cost effective for the NHS.  A CoaguChek XS is a hand held monitor that you place a little strip into.  You prick your finger with a pen needle much the same as diabetics and you take the tiniest drop of blood and you drop that or swipe onto the strip.  Within two minutes the monitor gives you your INR range.  So it tells you if you’re within your therapeutic range.

 

CODY Is this quite new technology or is this recommendation coming in after it’s been proven over a period of time?

EVE KNIGHT This recommendation is coming a long time after the technology.  In Europe it’s probably 28, 30 years.  In this country it’s in excess of 20 years so it’s taken a long time to get to this point but we very much welcome NICE’s recommendation.

CODY Why do you think it’s taken so long for the recommendation to be made if it would seem to be obvious?

EVE KNIGHT To be honest I really don’t know why it’s taken so long.  None of the companies have put into NICE for them to look at it.  In fact NICE were actually asked by a patient to look at this and I believe that it’s the first time a patient has asked NICE to actually look at something and issue guidance.

CODY That’s interesting.  In the same vein why do you think only 15% of GP’s in the UK currently offer self-monitoring to their patients?

EVE KNIGHT I think there are many reasons for that.  Cost or the thought that it will cost too much is possibly one.  I think a number of GP’s have not been convinced of its safety and now this guidance is out I am hoping that will change that.  I think also we tend to take a longer time in this country to actually adopt new technology.  I mean the Prime Minister David Cameron actually said in a speech in 2011, he used self-monitoring as an example of what was good  about the NHS and what could be used in the NHS but he also recognised in that speech that we are not very good at bringing these things to the table and getting on with them.  Now we’ve got the guidance I sincerely hope it’s about time we will get on with it.

CODY So you did mention cost briefly there.  I suppose we have to treat it over a long time frame because if you are continuously visiting a GP there is a large cost involved in that as well.  What sort of cost outlay is there for this sort of self-checking treatment?

EVE KNIGHT Well there are two sets of costs.  Costs for the NHS which is the cost of taking the blood sample, sending it off to the lab, getting it back from the lab, contacting the patient and all that sort of thing.  There’s also the cost of if you get it wrong; the cost of strokes.  Strokes are extremely expensive things to treat in the NHS.  For patients if they are going to clinics or their GP they have got the cost of getting there, the cost of taking time off work/ off school so there are lots of different costs involved.  The long term cost savings for the NHS will be two fold.  It will be that patients are self-monitoring at home frees up more time for the clinics to deal with people who don’t want too or for people it’s not clinically suitable.  Also it has been proven in research that there are less strokes, less thrombotic events when people do self-monitor so the long term costs of saving life’s and saving money is there.

CODY I suppose you can avoid missed appointments and things like that?

EVE KNIGHT You avoid missed appointments and also when you self-monitor because you tend to self-monitor a little more frequently you don’t tend to make so many alterations to your dose so there are less chances of you being in and out of your range.

CODY Anticoagulation Europe are supporting and calling for more self-monitoring.  What does success look like for you? 100% uptake?

EVE KNIGHT No there will never be 100% uptake.  Some people will not want to self-monitor and that is quite right.  No one is saying people have to self-monitor.  It is a choice for patients and that’s the beauty of it.  Its having a choice about what you want to do and how you want to live your life.  Success for me would be getting an awareness of this out to patients and the general public so if they want to they can have these types of conversations with their GP or their anti coag nurse and then make a decision on the benefits of self-monitoring, would it be right for them.  Success would also be and we will be campaigning for it, to get these monitors available on prescriptions alongside the strips that go with them so that people are not discriminated against by not being able to afford to purchase this monitoring equipment.