An Explanation of Deep Vein Thrombosis

DVT Arises Due to Stagnation of Blood in the Leg Veins

Aug 7, 2009 Sanjiva Wijesinha

Economy Class Syndrome is the name commonly given to the symptoms of painful, swollen legs that can occur after spending long hours seated during a long plane flight

Deep Vein Thrombosis - or DVT as it is commonly known - is a condition that occurs due to sluggish circulation in the veins of the lower limb.

It is usually seen after a person has spent a long period seated in a plane. The affected person does not need to have been on an aeroplane, however, because DVT can similarly occur in someone who has been seated in a coach or car. What is important is that the person has been in a position where the leg muscles have not been able to move - thus allowing the blood in the veins of the leg to stagnate and clot within the veins.

Calf Muscle Contraction and Circulation of Blood

Blood is kept circulating through the body by two actions - Forward Pressure exerted by the pumping of the heart as well as compression of the veins of the leg by the calf muscles. This is why it is important for the calf muscles to keep moving and contracting - because every time the calf muscles contract, they squeeze the veins within them and force the blood to move upward towards the heart. If a person is in a position where the muscles are prevented from contracting for long periods, then the blood stagnates within the veins - and this increases the chances of this blood forming clots.

Lack of calf muscle contraction is one reason why ankles and feet swell after a long period of remaining seated in a plane.The danger of developing clots in the calf veins (termed Thrombosis) is that these clots can get dislodged and carried in the circulation to the right side of the heart and from there to the lungs - where they can lodge within the blood vessels of the lung (Pulmonary Embolus) and lead to damage (termed Pulmonary Infarction) of a portion of the lung - a dangerous and life-threatening condition.

Risk of DVT

While stagnation of blood in the leg veins, caused by being seated immobile for long periods, is the basic cause of DVT, there are some conditions which put a person at greater than average risk of DVT. Having varicose veins (long, tortuous veins of the legs in which circulation is naturally sluggish) places one at risk - as do conditions which make the blood excessively "clottable" (such as smoking, being on the contraceptive pill, and being dehydrated). Moreover, once someone has developed a DVT, he is at greater risk of developing a second DVT under simliar conditions .

Preventing Deep Vein Thrombosis

Among measures one can adopt to minimise the chances of developing a DVT when undertaking long haul flights are

• drinking plenty of Non-Alcoholic fluids to kep the body well hydrated
• wearing compression stockings which keep the calf muscles compressed - thus promoting flow in the calf veins
• walking about while in flight, to exercise the calf muscles
• even while seated, performing exercises to intermittently compress the calf muscles

While aspirin tablets (a known anti-clotting medication for people with circulatory disease) have not been proven to reduce clot formation in calf veins, taking a subcutaneous injection of heparin shortly before a long haul flight has been shown to minimise the risk of DVT in those who are at risk.

The copyright of the article An Explanation of Deep Vein Thrombosis in Men’s Health is owned by Sanjiva Wijesinha. Permission to republish An Explanation of Deep Vein Thrombosis in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Deep vein Thrombosis

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