blood clot treatment
Increased blood clotting is one of the serious problems that may threaten human life if not treated in the right way. Learn how to fix this problem.
The process of blood clotting is one of the most important vital processes in the body, as it aims to protect the body from the risk of continuous bleeding when exposed to various accidents and injuries.
What is meant by blood clotting, and how does this process occur?
The process of turning the components of blood into a gelatinous substance is known as blood coagulation.
This process occurs as a result of the body's exposure to an injury that leads to a cut in the blood vessel wall, and therefore the body needs a mechanism to stop the bleeding, as follows:
- Where the wall of the affected blood vessel sends signals that stimulate platelets to stick together and head to the site of damage; to plug the pieces.
- Then, more platelets are attracted and, in combination with clotting factors, a mesh is created to secure the plug at the site of the damage. Normally, the body dissolves this blood clot after the injury has healed.
- In some cases, it may happen that the blood clots in the blood vessels for no reason to do so (Hypercoagulation).
- Some people may be born with a tendency to blood clots as a result of the presence of genetic mutations in the proteins responsible for the process of blood clotting or a disorder in the process of dissolving the blood clot. While some suffer from blood clots as a result of the presence of external factors such as surgery, obesity, or taking medications such as birth control pills.
blood clot treatment
The problem of blood clotting may lead to serious complications, if the blood clot travels to sensitive places in the body, such as a stroke or heart attack.
Therefore, it is necessary to treat this problem accurately based on the patient's health condition and the location of the blood clot, as follows:
- Anticoagulants are used to prevent the blood clot from developing and reduce the chances of further clots forming later. Some of them are taken orally, such as warfarin, or injected under the skin, such as heparin.
- Antiplatelets, such as aspirin, inhibit the action of the enzyme responsible for the adhesion of platelets with each other.
- In emergency situations, thrombolytics are used, which stimulate the enzyme responsible for dissolving and dissolving the blood clot.
- There are special cases that may call for the use of other types of treatments such as:
- Use of antithrombin factor before surgery, or in case of unresponsiveness to heparin.
- using protein C before taking warfarin; To protect against one of the side effects of warfarin, which is skin necrosis.
- In addition to previous treatments, the patient may need surgery (catheterization), or implantation of devices inside the body such as the inferior vena cava filter that prevents blood clots in the extremities from moving to the lungs.