What is DVT?

Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a condition when a blood clot forms in a deep vein of the body. The deep veins in the legs, thighs and hips are the most common sites for DVT. Normally, clots form when there is an injury to the wall of a blood vessel, and when the injury has healed, the clots dissolve on their own.

With a DVT, a large clot does not break down. It can be large enough to prevent the normal flow of blood, which can cause pain and swelling. The clot can also break into smaller pieces and become an embolus, a substance that can reach your heart, lungs or brain and decrease the blood supply to that organ. This can cause serious and life-threatening conditions, such as a heart attack, pulmonary embolism or stroke.



Treatment of DVT

Venous thrombolysis – a minimally invasive procedure that dissolves and removes clots in the deep veins of the arms and legs using a small catheter.

Watch this animation to see how venous thrombolsys can effectively bust up a potentially serious blood clot:



Medicines – Medicines can stop new clots from forming and prevent current clots from getting larger. Some may also speed up the break down of clots.

Compression stockings – These tight elastic stockings put pressure on your lower legs. The pressure is highest near the toe and decreases as it goes towards the thighs. Wearing pressure stockings help push blood back up to the heart and keeps clots from forming.

Pneumatic boots – These plastic boots or leggings are put on over pressure stockings or elastic wraps and connected to an air pump machine, which tightens and loosens different parts of the boots. This helps push the blood back up to the heart to keep clots from forming.

Inferior vena cava filter – This filter is surgically placed inside the large vein bringing blood to your heart from your lower body. It is used when you cannot be treated with blood thinners and traps clots in your blood to prevent a pulmonary embolus.