Blood clots Essay

Blood clots are also known as the thrombus which is the result of blood coagulation step in hemostasis. Blood clots are formed through platelets’ aggression which makes a platelet plug and the stimulation of the humoral coagulation system. Blood clots noted as a pathologic in terms of thrombosis but then it is physiologic in terms of injury. Thrombus signifies blood clotting in the intact blood vessels. It is a big blood vessel that reduces blood flow via that vessel. Moreover, in the case of small blood vessel, the blood movement might totally stop which may cause death of tissue which provided by the said vessel. If the thrombus extricates and turns out to be free-floating, it becomes an embolus. There are several conditions in which blood clots form which involve atrial fibrillation which is a cardiac arrhythmia’s formation, heart valve replacement, extension periods of inactivity, a previous heart attack and genetic inadequacies (see â€Å"Thrombus†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. October 11, 2006). Blood clots’ preventions may decrease the possibility of pulmonary embolism, heart attack and stroke. Warfarin and heparin are frequently used to slow and restrain formation and progress of prevailing blood clots which permit our body to decrease and suspend the blood clots by means of usual methods. A thrombus is distinct from haematoma by means of: >being non-laminar >being elastic and brittle > has a high haematocrit >lacks of circulation (see â€Å"Thrombus†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. October 11, 2006). The purposes of this study are to: (1) know what blood clots are; (2) be aware on how blood clots do form and; (3) learn how blood clots treated. II. Discussion A. About Blood Clots If the blood vessels are destroyed, the lack of blood from the system should be suspended before â€Å"shock† occurs and may possibly leads patient’s death. It is achieved through the blood’s solidification and the said process is termed as coagulation or clotting. Blood clots comprise of a plug of platelets entangled in a group of insoluble fibrin molecules (see â€Å"Blood Clotting†. June 4, 2005). Moreover, blood clots are the misery and pest of the existence of human beings. The can create strokes and heart attacks and they suspend blood supply to an individual’s legs. Many physicians denote this process as thrombosis. Several scientists have extensive researched for a period of time regarding the vascular biology which has an intention to stop thrombosis and cure its consequences yet it continuously serves as a culprit for death causes. Approximately in the past five years, the Mayo cardiovascular researchers continually widened their investigations regarding the vascular biology after they found out that thrombosis formed through interaction of cells exist in the vessel wall and in the circulation of the bloodstream. Dr. Simari stated that: â€Å"The major focus of our lab is to understand the biological process that narrows blood vessels, both in arthrosclerosis and in re- stenosis. Our aim is to take the biological clues that we learn from our research and use them to generate biological markers and treatments that can predict, prevent and treat thrombosis at the site of vascular injury (see â€Å"The Biology of Blood Clots†. Mayo Clinic’s Online Research Magazine. 2006). In addition, the blood clots develop even if an individual does not experience injury. Even though majority of the blood clots have a tendency to suspend, there are circumstances in which blood clots can create medical dilemmas. Blood clots turn out to be risky if they block blood movement via artery or vein. If the blood clot prevents or deters the blood movement to an artery in the brain or heart, it may lead to stroke or heart attack. Blood clots can deter, too, the veins and arteries in our entire body which cause illnesses like varicose veins to serious pulmonary embolism. The picture below illustrates the formation of blood clot (see â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). B. How blood clots do form? The cells which line inside the layer of blood vessel becomes injured which is instigated by a wound. The blood platelets automatically go directly to the injured area and connect themselves with the intention to close of the wound. Look at the picture below (see â€Å"How do blood clots form? March 11, 2004). Platelets clump together and the clothing process begins The platelets discharge a chemical substance which draw and bring together more platelets to the injured area. In the meantime, other substances are mix with platelets to create and develop a blood clot. This process is named as coagulation. Fibrin is released. Fibrin describes as a thread-like protein which aids the stabilization of the clot in the blood vessel. The picture below shows how blood clot forms and fibrin stabilizes clot (see â€Å"How do blood clots form? March 11, 2004). Additionally, blood clot can be developed too through gradual increase of plaque inside the artery-an example for this is the atherosclerosis- or other illnesses. Any vein or artery may possibly experience and form blood clots inside our body which include the coronary arteries that provide the heart with blood, the arteries which provide the brain with blood-an example for this is the carotid arteries, and the veins in the legs. As mentioned earlier, blood clots can also be dangerous if will it develop inside in any of these arteries: ? The pulmonary artery passes through from the heart to the lungs. Obstruction in this artery is named as a pulmonary embolism and may create a great damage in the lungs and in several circumstances, may lead to death. This is because of the abnormal heart pulse which is termed as atrial fibrillation or through a peripheral venous disorder inside the veins of the legs-an example is the deep vein thrombosis. ? One of the coronary arteries that can be found on the heart’s surface and provide the heart muscle with new, oxygen-rich blood. The obstruction of the coronary arteries may possibly cause a heart attack. In this condition, blood clots normally develop as a reaction to the plaque rupture that happens if a plaque piles up inside the coronary artery fractures’ wall, which initiate blood clotting. ? The carotid arteries that is located in the neck and provide the brain with oxygen-rich blood. Obstruction may possibly initiate a stroke-an example for this is the transient ischemic attack. ? The femoral artery which is located in the leg. Obstruction may instigate pain like claudication, absence of color’s area, weakness and when this is not cured, infection like gangrene and tissue death like necrosis. An artery can be located in the abdomen. Obstruction may create diarrhea, vomiting or pain (â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). C. how blood clots treated Several physicians cure blood clots with several procedures. Treatments like anticoagulants that aid to prevent blood clots and clot busters that aid to suspend blood clots. In some serious circumstances, physicians may possibly decide to use for a catheter-based procedure which utilize a long, thin tube named as catheter or even decide for a surgery to take off the clot-thrombectomy. Moreover, there are maybe devices that need to be implanted in particular blood vessels in order to catch blood clots before there will be more injury happened (see â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). C. 1 Treatment options for blood clots The option in treating blood clots is a case to case basis whether the clot has developed in an artery or a vein and creates stroke or heart attack. During emergencies, thrombolytic treatments-clot busters- may possibly used to suspend the blood clot. These treatments are applied to some selected patients in accordance to an extensive protocol. In order to be efficient, they are provided no less than one hour of the heart attack or in three hours of the stroke. Thrombolytics are normally applied when there are huge clots which cause severe and life-threatening signs. These can create abrupt and unexpected bleeding. There are many invasive methods that can also be used. One of these is the catheter-directed thrombolysis. It is a method which the catheter procvides thrombolytic enzymes straight to the blood clot. Throughout this process, greater enzymes’ concentrations could be utilized and may possibly have lesser side effects compared when the enzymes are supplied subcutaneously no less than two days. Thrombolytic method is followed by a treatment that has anticoagulants to stop more blood clots from formation. Anticoagulants could be advised to patients that have great risk of a blood clot. Researchers are really trying very hard to different catheter-based procedures to cure stroke rapidly. One of the experimental procedures which included is the use of a tiny â€Å"corkscrew† device which rapidly reverses the injury created by a stroke. The said device is directed to where the blood clot is; where it removes the obstruction. Another procedure depends on a special laser catheter which utilizes light energy to suspend rapidly the blood clot. These latest therapies can be accessible to a patient that cannot bear clot-busting drugs (see â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). Furthermore, when a blood clot develops in a leg vein, there is a risk that a pulmonary embolism will form. A pulmonary embolism may possibly be a life-threatening in which blood clots break away from its location and passes through the bloodstream and stay in one of the blood vessels of the lungs. To avoid and stop a pulmonary embolism, the present blood clots in the legs may cured with a mixture of heat, thrombolytics, painkilling treatments, elevation of the injured area to lessen swelling and anticoagulants. This procedure relies on the clot’s size and the seriousness of any current symptoms. When a patient does not react to anticoagulants, the physicians will decide for a process which uses a catheter having a special device named as vena cava filter. The vena cava filter is inserted in the large vein which transports blood from the legs up to the heart and lungs (vena cava). Additionally, the vena cava filter is a kind of a device which catches blood clots within the vein before the blood clots are permitted to reach the lungs. However, there are several danger related with vena cava filters which comprise failure of the filter in terms of time and blood clots created by means of it. Many researchers really work on in improving the vena cava filters which can be withdrawn right after the medication of pulmonary embolism. There are researches that substantiated and confirmed that treatment in a longer period of time along with a low-does anticoagulant drugs aids in stopping the presence of blood clots amongst those patients who have background of vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (see â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). C. 2 Diagnosis methods There are several ways on how to diagnose blood clots. It starts with a medical background and physical test. When there is suspension of clot, several of examinations are utilized to substantiate the diagnosis and these include Doppler ultrasound, CAT scan and MRI: *Doppler ultrasound pertains to an imaging technology which utilizes sound or motion waves to give visual images of the structure and of several blood vessels and organs in our body (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). * CAT scan refers to computer axial tomography. It is an examination which utilizes a number of x-rays which got from different sides in order to give a computerized three-dimensional image of a body shape (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). *MRI means magnetic resonance imaging which is a noninvasive examination that utilizes magnetic fields to give high-resolution cross- sectional or three-dimensional visual images of the aimed surface (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). References 1. â€Å"Thrombus†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. October 11, 2006. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Blood_clot 2. â€Å"Blood Clotting†. June 4, 2005. http://users. rcn. com/jkimball. ma. ultranet/BiologyPages/C/Clotting. html 3. â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots. cfm 4. â€Å"The Biology of Blood Clots†. Mayo Clinic’s Online Research Magazine. 2006. http://discoverysedge. mayo. edu/vascular_biology/ 5. â€Å"How do blood clots form? March 11, 2004. http://www. innohepusa. com/corporateweb/innohepus/home. nsf/Content/Howdoclotsform. 6. â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots7. cfm 7. â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots6. cfm