1.What is deep vein thrombosis in the lower extremities?
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is the abnormal clotting of blood in the deep vein, which occurs in the lower limbs. It is a relatively common disease in Europe and America, and the trend is increasing year by year in China. Some blood clots may dislodge and cause embolism of the patient’s lungs, brain and other important organs. Patients with severe pulmonary embolism will stop their heartbeat within seconds and die in time for resuscitation. Even if resuscitation is timely, the success rate of this disease is extremely low. Other patients are not immune to the sequelae of chronic thrombosis, which causes long-term pain and affects life and working ability.
2.What is the cause of lower limb deep vein thrombosis?
Venous thrombosis is formed under the action of multiple factors, mainly related to the following factors.
(1)Age Deep vein thrombosis can be seen in people of any age, but statistics show that the incidence rate increases gradually with age, and the incidence rate of 80-year-old people is more than 30 times that of 30-year-old people.
(2) Braking Patients who are bedridden for a long time are prone to lower extremity deep vein thrombosis.
(3) History of venous thrombosis. 23% to 26% of patients with acute DVT have a previous history of venous thrombosis, and these newly formed thrombi often come from the original diseased veins. Studies have found that the blood of patients with recurrent DVT is often hypercoagulable.
(4) Trauma. Trauma may lead to lower limb fracture, spinal cord injury, venous vessel injury and the need for surgical treatment, making trauma patients prone to DVT, and the blood is in a hypercoagulable state after trauma, which also promotes thrombosis.
(5) Surgery. The high incidence of DVT after surgery shows that surgery is an important susceptibility factor for DVT, and the patient’s age, type of surgery, trauma size, surgery time and postoperative bed time all affect the occurrence of DVT. The type of surgery is particularly important, with the incidence of DVT for femur fracture, hip replacement and knee replacement being as high as 48%, 51% and 61%, respectively.
(6) Primary blood hypercoagulable state
(7) Postpartum The higher incidence of postpartum DVT is closely related to the blood being in a hypercoagulable state.
(8) Obesity.
(9)Diabetes mellitus.
(10) Smoking, alcoholism, etc.
3.Preventive measures for lower limb deep vein thrombosis
Deep vein thrombosis has serious consequences, so prevention is particularly important. Effective preventive measures can reduce its incidence. Commonly used preventive measures mainly include the following.
(1) Advise patients to improve their lifestyle, quit smoking and alcohol, and control blood sugar and lipids.
(2) Appropriate intraoperative and postoperative fluid replacement and drinking more water after surgery to avoid dehydration.
(3) Perform effective ankle pump exercises, quadriceps contraction exercises, and deep breathing exercises.
(4) Functional exercise and bed activity as early as possible after surgery according to the condition.
(5) Select reasonable preventive drugs according to the condition.