Thrombosis is caused by a blood clot that becomes obstructed in an artery or vein. When this clot travels through the vessels and obstructs one that is smaller than its size, we are dealing with an embolism.
Thrombosis and embolism: What are they?
Thrombosis is a clotting of blood inside an artery or vein due to an alteration of the vessel, such as an inflammatory process, stenosis or narrowing. This in turn leads to a decrease in blood velocity and an alteration in blood clotting.
The most common reasons for arterial thrombosis are diabetes, hypertension, too high cholesterol and triglyceride levels or smoking or other drug addiction. At the venous level, thrombosis may be due to an inflammatory process of the vein, a decrease in blood velocity as in varicose veins or an alteration in blood coagulation.
Embolism, on the other hand, is a blood clot that occurs in a certain area of our body and travels through the arteries and veins until it clogs a vessel that is smaller in caliber than the clot itself. Both thrombosis and embolism cause the obstructed area to lack the necessary blood flow.
How do thrombosis and embolism manifest themselves?
A thrombosis or arterial embolism will cause, if it is in an extremity, intense pain due to the lack of blood supply, pallor with a decrease in external temperature and a loss of strength and mobility in the arm or leg. If it occurs in a heart artery, it can cause a myocardial infarction, which can even become complicated and lead to cardiac arrest.
If the lack of irrigation occurs in the brain, we will be in front of a cerebral vascular accident or stroke. Depending on its extension and location, this will be more or less serious, but a cerebral infarction can lead to a hemorrhage or “stroke”, which would complicate the lesion.
On the other hand, there are embolisms that obstruct an artery in the lung (known as pulmonary embolism). This causes acute respiratory failure and, in some cases, results in death due to cardiorespiratory collapse. 99% of pulmonary embolisms are caused by thrombosis in the lower limbs.
What is thrombophlebitis?
Commonly called “feblitis”, it is a thrombosis of a superficial vein. It appears as a hard cord, with relief on the skin, red, and painful due to blood clotting inside this vessel. This is a frequent complication of varicose veins, but the risk is that thrombophlebitis occurs in a saphenous vein, since these communicate with the deep venous system and this could cause a pulmonary embolism.
In these cases the patient is decoagulated and the vein with thrombophlebitis is surgically disconnected. It is inadvisable to sclerosis a saphenous vein to treat venous insufficiency, as there is the likelihood of causing a pulmonary embolism due to thrombosis reduced by the foam of the sclerosis. Therefore, although sclerosis is useful in medium and small caliber varis, saphenous veins will always be treated surgically.