Thrombosis is a topic that people often talk about after dinner, because the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases caused by blood clots is increasing for many people. Therefore, people often ask, who is prone to blood clots? Today, Dr. Lai is here to talk about this issue.
What is a blood clot?
Thrombosis is the process of blood clotting or the formation of certain solid mass in the blood in the heart and blood vessels of a living body, which is called thrombosis. The solid mass that forms is called a thrombus. Unlike blood clotting, blood clots form in a state where the blood flows.
Who is prone to blood clots?
Thrombosis can lead to the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, which is a high-risk disabling and fatal disease. Thrombosis is generally related to the following factors.
1. Patients with venous thromboembolism associated with pregnancy, postpartum or oral contraceptives.
2. Patients with temporary risk venous thromboembolism related to hormones or unrelated to surgery.
3. Patients with cerebral or splanchnic venous thromboembolism.
4. People with a family history of antithrombin, protein C or protein S deficiency.
5. Pregnant women with a family history of high-risk thrombotic tendencysis.
6. Patients with cancer with low or medium risk of thrombosis and a history of venous thromboembolism.
All of these people are at high risk of thrombosis. Special attention is required.
What are the precursor signs of thrombosis?
When the human body is sick, the body will send some signals to alarm, thrombosis is also, when the blood clot is formed in the initial stage, the body does not feel, when the formation reaches 90%, the body may feel uncomfortable. So. Usually we need to carefully observe some subtle signals from the body.
1. Alarm signal: sudden dizziness
Sudden dizziness, many people will feel this way, but still many people don't care or ignore it directly. When you are resting, you suddenly feel dizzy, lose your balance and coordination, and even faint. This is the case when suspicion is needed, as this may be the most common aura-indications in patients with cerebral thrombosis. If it is frequent, it should be seen as soon as possible.
2. Numbness of the limbs
When there is a blood clot in the human blood, the limbs will feel numb and painful due to insufficient blood supply. It is common to see patients in daily life who suddenly feel leg pain, pressure, or numbness in the lower limbs, and should be vigilant when these symptoms occur.
3. Walking with a limp
When a blood vessel is severely blocked, the patient will have intermittent claudication, that is, walking with a limp, and not walking far before feeling soreness in the legs, which needs to be stopped to rest. Blood clots can cause a lack of blood supply, leading to muscle soreness. If there is a thrombus in the lower limbs but it is neglected, the severe condition may lead to severe ischemia of the lower limbs, a decrease in skin temperature, resulting in the weakening or disappearance of the pulse of the dorsum of the foot and the posterior tibial artery, pain in the lower limbs when not walking, and further development of the limb ulceration, and the wound cannot be healed. and even tissue necrosis.
4. Swelling subsides suddenly
Blood clots form in the veins, preventing blood from flowing back up to the heart, and the pressure causes fluid to spread to the leg tissues, resulting in sudden, unilateral swelling in the lower legs, usually below the knee. If the swelling subsides, it may be a symptom of a blood clot blockage.
The site most likely to develop blood clots
Blood vessels can be found anywhere in our body, but the areas most prone to blood clots are commonly found in:
1. Pulmonary embolism
Venous thrombosis is a life-threatening silent killer, and many patients have venous thrombosis without any symptoms or sensations, so it is easy to overlook, and once symptoms appear, the vast majority are fatal.
Blood clots generally occur in the veins, and pulmonary embolism is common due to deep vein thrombosis in the lower extremities. Venous thrombosis of the lower limbs mostly occurs in people who are bedridden or inactive for a long time after surgery, and sedentary life leads to sluggish blood flow, resulting in abnormal clotting of blood in the deep venous lumen, and clotting blocks the venous lumen, which will induce the formation of deep vein thrombosis in the lower limbs, and deep vein thrombosis will cause fatal pulmonary embolism once it falls off the lungs.
2. Cerebral embolism
Cerebral embolism is a common cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, and patients who are most prone to cardiac embolism are patients with atrial fibrillation, who are most likely to block cerebral blood vessels and cause cerebral embolism because of the disappearance of normal atrial contractile movements, especially when the left atrial emboli falls off, which is most likely to block the cerebral blood vessels and cause cerebral embolism.
3. Myocardial infarction
When the coagulated blood clot blocks the blood vessel like a plug, it leads to no blood supply to the tissues and organs, which will lead to myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction and other serious diseases.
The most common site of arterial thrombosis is the blood vessels of the heart, leading to coronary heart disease, when the continuous ischemia and hypoxia of the coronary arteries cause myocardial necrosis, leading to rapid death. Therefore, when the coronary artery is acutely thrombosed, the patient will have angina pectoris in the early stage, and should be particularly vigilant and seek medical attention in time.
How can I prevent blood clots?
The likelihood of blood clots developing increases with age. How can we prevent blood clots?
1,Caution Three High
The three highs are the cause of thrombosis that can easily lead to thrombosis, and people with the three highs (hyperlipidemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia) and other related underlying diseases should be controlled as soon as possible when they are getting older, and the blood viscosity should be reduced as soon as possible, and the primary disease should be treated simultaneously. In this way, the formation of blood clots can be better prevented.
2. Sedentary lifestyle is one of the causes of thrombosis
If you sit still for long periods of time, it is one of the dangerous causes of blood clots. If you need to sit for work, it is best to get up for 2 hours to exercise your hands and feet, stretch your waist and stretch the lower part of your body or do leg exercises. In this way, we can maintain the normal operation of the blood, supply blood and oxygen to the whole body, and maintain the normal operation of the body.
3. Eat a light diet
Eat less high-fat, high-cholesterol foods. Eating more whole grains can help us reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease.
4. Try to drink as little as possible
Studies have shown that smoking causes damage to the walls of blood vessels, which can lead to cholesterol deposits and accelerate plaque production.
5. Staying up late is also a cause of thrombosis
Staying up late and not getting enough sleep increases inflammatory cells, which is the main cause of atherosclerosis.
Therefore, if there are any of the above factors, you should be vigilant and seek medical attention as soon as possible.
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Reference: 2023 Guidelines for the Management of Venous Thromboembolism.