Severe pain in the calf, swelling, and redness may be symptoms of deep vein thrombosis. This serious and disease, which affects 60 every year. Poles can – untreated – lead to death within a few seconds – doctors are alerting.
Experts talked about it at the Thursday press meeting in Warsaw, during which the Coalition Against Thrombosis was officially inaugurated. Its aim is, above all, to educate the community of doctors, nurses and the whole society about thrombosis and its consequences.
The most dangerous complication of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is pulmonary embolism (PE), which causes cardiac arrest, respiration and immediate death. This was the cause of the death of the Polish Olympic champion in the hammer throw Kamila Skolimowska in February 2009.
According to the initiator of the coalition, prof. Witold Tomkowski, head of the Intensive Pneumological and Cardiological Therapy Unit at the Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases in Warsaw, in Poland, the number of deaths confirmed by venous thromboembolism – including DVT and PE – is 35-40 thousand.
Deep vein thrombosis is characterized by the formation of blood clots in deep veins – most often in the thighs, lower legs and hips.
There are three main risk factors for this disease: disturbance of blood flow associated with immobilization, e.g. in hospital patients after surgery, especially orthopedic or oncological surgery, damage to the venous wall, e.g. during trauma, procedures, and excessive coagulability that occurs during surgery. .in. in neoplastic disease. Other risk factors include smoking, pregnancy, infection, hormonal contraception, dehydration, long air travel, a sedentary lifestyle, and obesity.
If the thrombus in the vein breaks off and travels to the pulmonary artery, it can block it with a fatal outcome. Deep vein thrombosis is responsible for 90 percent of the disease. cases of pulmonary embolism, emphasized prof. Tomkowski. It also increases the risk of limb amputation and can rarely lead to a stroke.
According to experts, every year in Poland should be diagnosed with 60 thousand. cases of DVT and 30-40 thousand. ZTP cases. Unfortunately, deep vein thrombosis is only diagnosed in a few thousand people, and up to 70% patients with pulmonary embolism die without proper diagnosis and treatment – said Prof. Tomkowski.
As he assessed, it is largely responsible for the poor organization of the health service, which delays the patient’s arrival for deep vein ultrasound examination. In order to shorten the time from the onset of disease symptoms to diagnosis, each doctor should be able to refer the patient to an ultrasound examination of the veins. But in Poland, the patient first goes to the family doctor, who refers him to a vascular surgeon or angiology surgeon, who only writes a referral. It takes several weeks – explained prof. Tomkowski.
Deep vein thrombosis in approx. 50% cases develop asymptomatically, but even if symptoms occur, patients are not diagnosed and treated due to the low knowledge of the disease among doctors.
I had calf cramps and brown spots appeared on my legs (these are symptoms of the so-called post-thrombotic syndrome – PAP). I thought it was ringworm and so I was treated by a dermatologist. It was only when my leg started to swell that I went to a vascular surgeon and started to be treated for thrombosis, Bogdan Celer from Warsaw told PAP.
Prophylactic anticoagulants are used in patients with moderate and high risk of thrombosis. Oral agents, dabigatran and rivaroxaban, have been on the market for over a year, and they work effectively and are safer and more convenient to use than old drugs such as warfarin. This agent, known for half a century, interacts with food and other drugs, which makes it difficult to select the therapeutic dose. For now, however, the new drugs are used only in patients who are scheduled for orthopedic surgery. (PAP)