1.What is thrombophilia? Thrombotic disease, as the name implies, is a disease with a series of symptoms due to blood vessel embolism. The tangible fraction in blood accumulates in blood vessels (mostly small vessels) under certain conditions (e.g., hyperlipidemia) and forms thrombus, causing narrowing of blood vessel diameter and relative ischemia and hypoxia in the tissues it supplies. Part of the unstable thrombus can be dislodged under the action of certain factors (called embolus), and the embolus can enter the blood circulation system and cause blockage of several narrow parts of human blood vessels, such as lung and kidney vessels, lower limb veins, etc., resulting in lower limb edema, local skin tissue necrosis and ulceration, and even difficulty in breathing and coughing up foamy sputum, which can be life-threatening in serious cases. 2.Why are elderly people prone to thrombosis? Older people’s own body function declines, vascular endothelial damage, increased blood coagulation, blood rheology abnormalities, etc., which are closely related to the occurrence of thrombotic diseases, easy to make thrombosis. Improper dietary structure and poor dietary habits of the elderly may also lead to thrombosis and endanger health. If the elderly have a long history of smoking, the carbon monoxide and nicotine produced by smoking can directly damage the vascular endothelium, fibrinolysis is inhibited and the thrombolytic effect is reduced, and platelet aggregation is strengthened, which can lead to thrombosis; if there is a long history of alcohol consumption, often due to the reduction of platelets and clotting factors, which can cause bleeding tendency. Moods of the elderly are easy to fluctuate, and psychological activities can directly affect the function of the autonomic nervous system and endocrine system; excessive grief or excitement and increased reactivity of the body can contribute to the occurrence and development of thrombotic diseases. 3.Why is the pain and swelling of lower limbs? Is it related to thrombosis? There are many reasons for painful swelling of lower limbs, such as: ①Physiological factors: fatigue, prolonged standing and walking can cause swelling of lower limbs, which can generally recover on its own after rest. ②Pathological factors: mainly caused by heart, kidney and liver diseases, in addition to malnutrition, drugs, allergic diseases, connective tissue diseases, endocrine disorders, etc. The degree of swelling is usually related to the severity of the disease. In case of unilateral or asymmetric lower limb swelling, it is mostly caused by obstruction, blockage or compression of the venous or lymphatic vessels of that side of the lower limb, such as venous thrombosis, inflammation, lymphangitis, tumor compression or tumor embolism formation. In addition, local lesions of knee and ankle joints sometimes also lead to swelling of lower limbs. 4.What are the serious consequences of thromboembolism if not treated in time? Embolism caused by dislodged thrombus is called thromboembolism, which is the most common kind of embolism. There are mainly: ①Pulmonary artery embolism: small and medium emboli embolize small branches of the pulmonary artery, commonly in the lower lobe of the lung, which usually do not cause serious consequences; large thrombus emboli, embolize the main trunk or large branches of the pulmonary artery, and longer emboli can embolize the left and right pulmonary artery trunks, which often cause serious consequences. Patients may suddenly appear respiratory distress, cyanosis, shock or even sudden death. Body circulation artery embolism: most of the emboli come from the left heart, and the main sites of artery embolism are lower limbs and brain, which can also involve intestine, kidney and spleen. When the embolized artery lacks effective collateral circulation, it can cause local tissue infarction, such as cerebral infarction. 5.What are the common treatment methods for thrombotic diseases? First of all, it is necessary to treat atherosclerosis, control diabetes and infection and other basic diseases, then it is necessary to rest in bed, and those with venous thrombosis of the limbs should elevate the affected limbs and give pain relief if there is pain. The most important thing is to treat with antithrombotic drugs, such as heparin, coumarins and recombinant human activated protein C as anticoagulant therapy; aspirin, dipyridamole and clopidogrel as antiplatelet drugs; and urokinase and tissue-type fibrinogen activator as thrombolytic therapy. Other interventional therapies and surgical treatment can also be considered. 6.What problems should I pay attention to when taking aspirin anti-thrombotic? Many patients often hope to take good drugs and more drugs in order to pursue the efficacy and get rid of the pain as soon as possible, however, many times this is not desirable. For example: while using aspirin, you should not use other NSAIDs for analgesia, not only will the combination not increase the efficacy, but also more serious gastrointestinal side effects, such as gastric ulcer/bleeding. The combination of this product with paracetamol in large quantities over a long period of time has the potential to cause kidney lesions. Combination with any drug that may cause thrombocytopenia, reduced platelet aggregation function or bleeding from gastrointestinal ulcers has the risk of aggravating clotting disorders and causing bleeding. 7.What is thrombolytic therapy and what drugs are available? The so-called thrombolytic therapy is to dissolve the thrombus and reopen the blood vessel through drugs, so that the tissues in the area of obstructed vascular perfusion can regain blood oxygen supply. It is necessary in many patients with acute thromboembolism and should be performed as early as possible. Specific drugs that can be used are streptokinase, urokinase, and tissue-type fibrinogen activator. Low-molecular heparin is often used clinically nowadays, which does not increase the risk of bleeding while antithrombotic formation. 8.How to prevent thrombotic diseases? What do I need to pay attention to in terms of diet? To prevent thrombotic diseases, we should wear loose clothes and shoes and socks; do leg activities frequently when sitting for a long time, such as moving the ankle; drink more water, do not smoke, and avoid alcoholic or caffeinated drinks; once the lower limbs swell, go to the hospital for examination. Diet should pay attention to low cholesterol, low fat, low salt and low sugar. Many foods are beneficial to prevent thrombosis, such as: corn oil, peanut oil, shiitake mushrooms, black fungus, nori, kelp, oats, walnuts, peanuts, etc., should increase their proportion in the composition of the diet. And vegetables and fruits, which are rich in vitamin B6 and vitamin C, are also beneficial to prevent blood clots. 9.How to understand the disease from the perspective of Chinese medicine and how to treat it? Traditionally, TCM emphasizes the diagnosis and treatment, but does not neglect the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In TCM, blood clots are considered as stasis and yin evil, so it is often necessary to activate blood circulation and remove stasis, and to encourage Yang to move blood. Long-term stasis will cause water and fluid to seep out of the veins, resulting in water-dampness and swelling, so it is also necessary to promote water and dispel dampness when using medicine. Since people with thrombosis are often middle-aged and elderly, their yang energy starts to decline and their yin energy is affected, so the treatment also needs to replenish qi, nourish yang and move qi, so that yang energy can move and blood vessels can be opened. Therefore, patients should do more exercises to stimulate the Yang energy, and reduce cold food as much as possible.