SYMPTOMS OF DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS DVT TESTS FOR DVT AND PULMONARY EMBOLISM A BLOOD CLOT IN THE LUNGS

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Symptoms of a blood clot in the leg can be swelling of the leg, warmth and redness of the leg, pain in the leg that is noticeable, or worse when standing or walking or possible tenderness on touching the calf area. Prolonged immobilization such as sitting in a seat for hours on an airplane can increases the risk for blood clots. Recent surgery and a heart beat problem called atrial fibrillation all impact blood clot formation. A blood clot can travel into the lungs and become a pulmonary embolism.

Click to Read About Warning On Blood Clot and Birth Control Patch

What are Causes of Blood Clots: Tests for Pulmonary Embolism

Prolonged immobilization increases risk for blood clots. Also birth control medicine as well as trauma or recent surgery can be risk factors for blood clots. Anything that tends to make the blood flow slow or stall encourages problems. As well as damage to the blood vessel walls and anything altering the coagulability of blood. Take for example the case of a twenty something woman who came to see the doctor because of a hard to describe discomfort or pain in her side. It had bothered her for the previous two days and when she had gone to see her regular physician the nurse had done a urine test and sent the woman home. But the woman had felt so bad that she and her husband went to see another physician








Closer questioning revealed that the woman had been on birth control pills and had injured her leg earlier in the week. Now the doctor was suspicious of a blood clot. Birth control pills and trauma to the extremities are both risk factors for blood clots.The doctor sent her to the hospital where a test called a spiral CT scan demonstrated a blood clot in her lung. This woman had two things that increases chances of a blood clot.

Virchow's Triad for blood clots

Over one hundred years ago a physician name Virchow elucidated Virchow's Triad: three circumstances associated with an increased chance of a blood clot:

increased coagulability of the blood

damage to the walls of the blood vessel

things slowing down the blood flow




In light of this it's easier to understand this list of some of the things associated with an increased chance of blood clots:

long time periods of immobility such as sitting for hours and hours in one position (long flight?)

certain genetic problems such as a genetic defect that may alter the normal formation of a chemical called factor V Leidin that helps the body to form clots so that blood clots are more likely to form. The FDA has approved a DNA test for factor V Leidin and factor II 2 (prothrombin) genetic abnormality as you can read at FDA Approves Lab Tests for Genetic Clotting Risk.

certain kinds of birth control pills

recent surgery

trauma to the body

chronic atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition where the atria (upper chambers of the heart) pump into the lower chambers (the ventricles) in a less coordinated fashion so that the blood may be standing in place longer and thus increase the chance of clotting



See

LONG FLIGHTS BLOOD CLOTS AND PULMONARY EMBOLISM ECONOMY CLASS SYNDROME

So What's a Pulmonary Embolism?

Pulmonary Embolism and Deep Vein Thombosis DVT are Related as Blood Clot in Leg Can Travel thru Heart Into Lung

Former Governor of Minnesota and wrestler Jesse Ventura had a pulmonary embolism the night he was scheduled to wrestle Hulk Hogan. And David Bloom, the television correspondent who was said to have had a blood clot as a result of prolonged time traveling in an armored vehicle. A pulmonary embolism is a blockage in an artery in the lungs caused by an embolus, a blood clot that has traveled from another place in the circulatory system such as a vein in a leg or in the pelvic area to the lungs to become a blood clot in the lung.

Account of Jesse Ventura's pulmonary embolism.

a diagram of the mechanism of a pulmonary blood clot embolism

A potential life-saver

The Symptoms of a Pulmonary Embolism Blood Clot in the Lung

Symptoms can include:

shortness of breath

chest pain

fever

cough

coughing up blood

How do They Test for Pulmonary Embolism and for a DVT Blood Clot

The Ventilation Perfusion Test (The VQ Scan) and the Spiral CT Scan

The two most prominent tests for a pulmonary embolism are the VQ Scan and Spiral CT. Oxygen is exchanged between the air and the blood in the lungs. Thus there is ventilation of the lungs and also perfusion in the lungs by the blood. If there is a blood clot blocking some part of the lung one would expect to see a mismatch where there is not an approptiate blood flow to an area of the lung because of the clot blocking the area.



The perfusion scan is performed by injecting a radioactive substance with a short half life into a vein. The patient´s lungs are scanned to detect the location of the radioactive material as blood flows through the lungs. The ventilation scan is performed by scanning the lungs while having the person inhale radioactive gas with a short half life.

The Spiral CT Scan

The Spiral CT Scan is a newer and more sophisticated relation of the old CT scanner. It has detectors that rotate rapidly in a spiral and can image an area much faster than the older CT, so fast that it can get the whole image while a person holds their breath. Original CT scanners would spin 360° in one direction and make an image , then spin 360° in the other direction to make another cross section. Between each image, the machine would stop completely and reverse directions while the patient table was moved forward incrementally. The spiral CT scanner rotates continuously and can scan entire anatomic regions in less than a minute.

Ultrasound and D Dimer

DVTs are most commonly detected by the use of an ultrasound scan of the legs or affected area. Blood tests can also give a good indication that there is a thrombosis which is a fancy word for blood clot. A blood test for something called D Dimer measures the levels of a by-product of clotting material that can be used to help rule out a blood clot. Since other things besides a dvt can give a positive D Dimer test it can't be used alone to diagnose a dvt. A positive D-dimer indicates the presence of an abnormally high level of fibrin degradation products in the body and indicates that there has been significant clot (thrombus) formation and breakdown in the body, but it does not tell the location or cause. An elevated D-dimer may be due to a a number of other conditions besides a dvt. But a negative D Dimer is useful in ruling out a blood clot.