Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about deep vein thrombosis. And as always, you can find written notes on this topic at

zero tofinals.com slash DVT or in the vascular surgery section of the zero to finals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

Venus thromboemblism or VTE is a common and potentially fatal condition.

This involves a blood clot or a thrombus developing in the circulation.

This usually occurs secondary to stagnation of blood and hypercoagulable states, which is where

the blood is prone to clotting.

When a thrombus develops in the venous circulation is called a deep vein thrombosis or a DVT. Once a thrombus has developed, it can travel or

embolize from the deep veins through the right side of the heart and into the lungs, where it

becomes lodged in the pulmonary arteries. This blocks blood flow to the areas of the lungs

and is called a pulmonary embolism, or PE.

If the patient has a hole in their heart, for example, an atrial septal defect,

the blood clock can pass through to the left side of the heart and into the systemic circulation.

If it travels to the brain, it can cause a large stroke. Let's talk about the

risk factors. There are several risk factors that can put a patient at higher risk of developing a

DVT or a PE. In many of these situations, for example, surgery, we give patients prophylactic

treatment to prevent a venous thromboembolism.

These risk factors include immobility, recent surgery, long-haul travel, pregnancy,

hormone therapy with estrogen, for example, the combined oral contraceptive pill or hormone replacement therapy,

malignancy or cancer, polycythemia, which is a raised red blood cell count,

systemic lupus erythematosis, which is an inflammatory condition, and thrombofilia,

...