Pulmonary Embolism Support Group
By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.
I watched the CDC Grand Round webinar on Tuesday that RetiredNavy had posted. I found it very interesting and thought provoking. I still find myself wondering if something more could have been done to prevent my DVT/PE after my surgery.
The one area that always sticks in my mind is that I had had a prior superficial clot that was ignored by my doctors as an indication that I should have stronger DVT prevention for my surgery.
This came to mind again seeing a reply on a post today where someone had stated: " I was clotting a lot from IV sites during four months leading up to the PEs.".
My previous superficial clot from from an IV I had had for the contrast used in and MRI. The vein used for the IV was a superficial vein in my arm. The clot grew from my elbow to the top of my arm. It always seemed obvious to me that this shouldn't happen in normal situations and that it should be considered as a warning sign.
In most of the materials related to assessing risk for DVT/PE they specifically mention previous DVT and not previous thrombosis in general. Does anyone know why this is?
Is anyone else curious about the connection between superficial and deep vein thrombosis?
The one area that always sticks in my mind is that I had had a prior superficial clot that was ignored by my doctors as an indication that I should have stronger DVT prevention for my surgery.
This came to mind again seeing a reply on a post today where someone had stated: " I was clotting a lot from IV sites during four months leading up to the PEs.".
My previous superficial clot from from an IV I had had for the contrast used in and MRI. The vein used for the IV was a superficial vein in my arm. The clot grew from my elbow to the top of my arm. It always seemed obvious to me that this shouldn't happen in normal situations and that it should be considered as a warning sign.
In most of the materials related to assessing risk for DVT/PE they specifically mention previous DVT and not previous thrombosis in general. Does anyone know why this is?
Is anyone else curious about the connection between superficial and deep vein thrombosis?
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Look at what my best friend did with my picture!
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We all have 24 hours in a day. How we spend these hours is important. Watching a little bit of a video about how sitting affects us made me aware of how much sitting and laying down I do. Gonna have to work on that.Your turn. Tell me another truth.
"Is anyone else curious about the connection between superficial and deep vein thrombosis?'"
I'm curious about EVERYTHING. (grin) So, yes.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000199.htm
"Complications of superficial thrombophlebitis are rare. Possible problems may include the following:
Infections (cellulitis)
Deep vein thrombosis"
[ 'Rare' has a complicated definition concerning diseases. I posted that in another thread, but due to the problems at DS now with the 'search' ....... It's not as 'rare' as one would think.]
A MEDIA source has this information:
http://chealth.canoe.ca/channel_condition_info_details.asp?disease_id=126&channel_id=2022&relation_id=16451
I doubt if you could get a doctor to say that the superficial clot you had because of something done at the hospital would be a problem!
I also doubt if you could prove it. But there's a small question mark surrounding it.
I'm not sure I understand your question:
"In most of the materials related to assessing risk for DVT/PE they specifically mention previous DVT and not previous thrombosis in general. Does anyone know why this is? "
I agree that my superficial clot was not a concern at the time. They checked it and decided I wasn't at risk of it moving to my lungs. I recovered just fine and never went on anti-coagulants.
Move ahead 5 years to this spring. I was having knee surgery. Since there is moderate risk of DVT from knee surgery alone, they were asking questions about prior history of clotting. I mentioned my previous superficial clot and the response I got was that it didn't matter. In fact, the clinic I have been a part of for years doesn't even keep track of it in my medical history as something important.
I received the "standard" clot prevention treatment with my surgery. They were going to have me where compression stockings for the 3 days after my surgery, but they ended up simply wrapping my surgery leg in an ace bandage instead (it was supposed to have the same goal in mind).
I always thought it was odd that I would clot from a simple IV. Therefore, I wasn't too surprised to find out that I had a clot resulting from my surgery. The thing I wasn't prepared for was the PE.
I realize that my one experience isn't enough proof that someone with a prior history of a superficial clot should be treated as high risk for clots when undergoing surgery, but I wonder if I had been treated as such (with lovenox injections or something similar) if my DVT / PE could have been prevented.
I know a surprising number of people who've had superficial clots and never had a DVT incident, to date.
So I just think it's not as compelling of a connection as one would think, although I can't say I really know that for sure either.
I mean, yes, maybe a problematic/large/painful superficial clot could be an indicator, but just forming clots is how the human body is SUPPOSED to work in response to injury. Unless there is some research out there differentiating between different types or categories of superficial clots, I think most doctors would dismiss a superficial clot because that's just how the body is supposed to work when it is injured. For the most part, I think a superficial clot indicates that the body is working correctly ... it's not a harbinger of bad tidings to come.