Venous thrombo AND trauma

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective clinical trial. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of a specific protocol for prevention of thrombo-embolic disease occurring during the acute stage of spinal cord lesions, based on the simultaneous use of pharmacological plus mechanical procedures. SETTING: Regional Spinal Unit of Florence, Italy. INTRODUCTION: Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a dangerous pathology whose first clinical sign can be represented by unexpected pulmonary embolism (PE)...

OBJECTIVE: To look for an association between venous thromboembolism (VTE) and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) in patients without Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) when implementing, beside conventional assays, new tests for aPL screening directed towards purified proteic targets. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, hospital-based study of consecutive unselected outpatients. We compared VTE+ patients to VTE- among 398 consecutive unselected outpatients referred for clinical suspicion of VTE...

A retrospective study was carried out on 42 clinically diagnosed cases of venous thrombo-embolism (VTE) seen over a 10 year period. The mean age at presentation was 41 years with a sex ratio M:F of 2.5:1. The three commonest primary surgical conditions in patients with VTE were spinal trauma (16 percent), benign prostatic hypertrophy (12 percent) and head injury (10 percent). Prostatectomy was performed in 18 percent, ventral hernia repair in 12 percent and splenectomy in 9 percent. Sudden severe dyspnoea was the clinical presentation in 60 percent of patients...

BACKGROUND: Correlate D-dimer plasma values with the presence and degree of severity of atherosclerotic carotid lesions in consecutive outpatient and hospitalized patients without cardiovascular symptoms, checking to see if such correlation, if any, may be of help in daily clinical practice. METHODS: 113 consecutive outpatient and hospitalized patients (M/F 69/44; mean age +/- SD 66 +/- 11 years). EXCLUSION CRITERIA: acute arterial and venous thrombo-embolism, chronic venous insufficiency of lower limbs, active infections or inflammatory conditions, neoplasms, recent trauma or surgery...

This study reviews the recent experience with popliteal artery injuries at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Twenty-two patients suffered 24 injuries. The overall limb salvage was 83%. Blunt trauma accounted for 19 of the cases and was associated with femur fractures, knee dislocations, and tibia-fibular and plateau fractures: four amputations (21%) resulted. There were five penetrating injuries from three gunshot wounds, one stab wound, and one laceration: no amputations occurred. The major factor in the amputated limbs was delay in diagnosis and therapy of the arterial injury associated with blunt trauma...

Deep venous thrombosis is a recognised complication of trauma to the leg and may lead to pulmonary thrombo-embolism, but paradoxical thrombo-embolism is rare. A case of fatal paradoxical thrombo-embolism which followed a leg injury in a previously fit 36-year-old male is presented and contributory factors are reviewed.

Traditionally, blood rheology tests have been used in diagnosis and monitoring of infection, rheumatic diseases and malignancy, and are still of clinical value in these conditions. In the last twenty years, clinical and epidemiological studies have shown that the haematological determinants of blood flow resistance (haematocrit, fibrinogen, white cell count and altered red and white cell rigidity) are also associated with nutritional, metabolic, endocrine and vascular disorders. Decreased red cell deformability may contribute to reduced red cell survival and anaemia in burns, malaria, liver disease and kidney failure...