You can feel too tired and weak to move around as much. So you don’t need to have needles into your hand or arm each time you have cancer drug treatment.Ĭancer and its treatment can make you feel very ill. These lines usually stay in your veins for many months. They make sure the benefits of these treatments outweigh the risks.īlood clots can also form in long lines such as central lines and PICC lines. Your doctor will explain if the treatments you are having increase the risk of blood clots. tamoxifen which is a type of hormone treatment for breast cancer.You are at a higher risk of developing blood clots if you have one of the following types of cancer:Īlso, the risk is higher in cancers that have spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body.Ĭertain cancer treatments can increase the risk of developing blood clots. They combine with platelets to form blood clots and help us stop bleeding. This may be because cancer cells make chemicals that stimulate the body to produce clotting factors.Ĭlotting factors are proteins made naturally by the liver.

People with cancer often have sticky blood. Researchers think that up to 20 out of every 100 people with cancer (up to 20%) develop a blood clot at some point. People with cancer have a higher risk of developing blood clots.

pain in your chest or upper back which gets worse when you breathe inĬall 999 or go to A&E if you have symptoms of a blood clot in your lungs.

feeling breathless - this might start suddenly or increase over time.

If a blood clot has moved to your lungs (a pulmonary embolism), the symptoms include:

redness and swelling in your leg - this may be just in the calf or include the whole of your leg.

So it's important to know about the symptoms of blood clots and report them to your doctor or nurse immediately. DVTs and PEs together are sometimes called venous thromboembolism (VTE).ĭoctors can successfully treat most blood clots when diagnosed. If this happens, it’s called a pulmonary embolism (PE). It may travel through your heart to block part or all of the blood supply to the lungs. Part or all of a DVT can break off and travel around the body.

When a blood clot forms in the deep veins of the leg it is called a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The medical name for a blood clot is thrombus.īlood clots can develop in different parts of the body. What is a blood clot?Ī blood clot is a collection of blood that can form inside a blood vessel (a vein or an artery). Contact your doctor or get advice from 111 if you think you have a blood clot. Superficial thrombophlebitis is often observed in individuals who are heterozygous or homozygous for the factor V Leiden mutation.Blood clots can be very serious. Superficial swelling of the veins, called thrombophlebitis, is the result of blood clots that form in veins that are closer to the surface of the skin.

Learn the signs of pulmonary embolism Superficial Vein Swelling The occurrence of deadly pulmonary embolism can be greatly reduced if the patient’s deep vein thrombosis is treated with blood thinners. Clots in veins that are closer to the body center are more likely to lead to deadly pulmonary embolism as compared to clots in the calf veins.

The size of the clot and the location of the blocked blood flow in the vessel determine the extent and severity of the pulmonary embolism. Learn the signs of deep vein thrombosis Pulmonary EmbolismĪ pulmonary embolism occurs when a part or all of a deep vein clot breaks loose and is carried by the bloodstream to the lungs, where it blocks another blood vessel. Clots in the veins that form in regions of slow to moderate flow are made of a mixture of red cells, platelets, and fibrin, and are known as mixed platelet fibrin thrombi.Ĭlots in the deep veins of the legs or abdomen that partially block the vein may cause subtle symptoms and sometimes may not cause any symptoms until the normal blood flow is significantly disturbed. Deep Vein Thrombosisīlood clots may form in the deep blood vessels, most commonly in the legs and groin, and can block normal blood flow returning from the legs to the heart. The symptoms of a blood clot depend on the location of the affected blood vessel and whether the vessel is totally or partially blocked by the clot. The signs and symptoms of blood clots range from deep vein thrombosis to pulmonary embolism.

Thrombosis definition