What is thrombosis?

The AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 has been suspended in several countries due to severe cases of thrombosis. This pathology takes its name from the Greek word “thrombosis”, “coagulated milk”. It corresponds to the abnormal presence of a “thrombus”, ie a blood clot, which forms in an artery or a vein, and obstructs it. The clot is the result of a bleeding disorder that prevents blood from circulating normally. This blockage results in partial or total occlusion of either a vein or an artery. Depending on the affected blood vessel, it is referred to as arterial or venous thrombosis.

Find all the cheat sheets from the Journal de Demain here

In the most serious cases, arterial thrombosis can cause a myocardial infarction (heart attack), or a cerebrovascular accident (stroke). If it is a venous thrombosis, otherwise called phlebitis, the most serious complication is pulmonary embolism, after the clot breaks away from where it was formed to migrate, not in the lung. , but in a pulmonary artery. The latter is located between the heart and the lung, which it irrigates. The lung is therefore no longer properly perfused and the blood is poorly oxygenated. Embolism is potentially fatal.

Venous thrombosis most often affects the lower limbs – thighs or calves – and is manifested by pain (sudden and persistent) in the area where the thrombosis is located. But in 50% of cases, it does not trigger symptoms. Three elements promote venous thrombosis. Immobility, first of all, especially after surgery, because it slows down blood circulation. Factors that can make the blood more viscous, then, including the estrogen in some birth control pills. Or even chronic inflammation. The causes of arterial thrombosis are often linked to food and / or smoking. The two types of thrombosis do not have the same consequences or the same treatments.

OUR MOST READ ANTISECHES –
What is the Paris Commune?
Why do we say “Buckingham” to evoke the British crown?
Where does the name “Koh-Lanta” come from?