What Is Deep Vein Thrombosis?

It's Blood Clot Awareness Month. Here's what you need to know. It's day three of 31: what is a DVT, or deep vein thrombosis? A slightly different video today. I am on my way to examine for the Fellowship of the European Board of Vascular Surgery examinations, but I'm committed to doing a daily video as promised. I just don't know quite when I'm going to be able to upload this: hopefully before I take off, otherwise when I land.

So what is a deep vein thrombosis? Put simply, it's a blood clot, generally in the deep veins of the leg, but rarely in the deep veins of the arm as well. The primary function of the deep veins is to take blood back towards the heart.

We're obviously very concerned about the development of a pulmonary embolus, where the blood clot breaks off and goes towards your lungs, and that can be fatal. But probably less well known is the fact that a deep vein thrombosis in the lower limbs can in itself cause a vascular surgical emergency known as phlegmasia. So they're absolutely not benign and can be really quite serious.

Even if you don't develop phlegmasia, and fortunately most patients don't, you can develop post-thrombotic syndrome, where you get persistent leg swelling, and in the most severe cases you can also get concomitant ulceration. It can be a significant cause of morbidity for quite a number of patients. So know the signs and symptoms, act fast, get diagnosed, seek early treatment and stop the clot.