A Clearinghouse for Information about Blood Clots (DVT/)PE) and Clotting Disorders (thrombophilia) provided as a public service by the University of North Carolina Blood Research Center

List of posts


  • Stephan Moll, MD writes (last updated: Sept 9th, 2020)… Background:  Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 are at increased risk for thrombosis – DVT, PE, and may be pulmonary micro-vascular thrombosis that possibly contributes to respiratory failure; arterial events appear to occur less commonly. Scientific/clinical data on prevalence of thrombosis, best prevention, and optimal therapy are limited.

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  • Causes The 2 main causes of arterial thromboembolism are certainly arteriosclerosis and atrial fibriallation. Only uncommonly do arterial clots occur in persons less than 40 or 50 years of age who do not have arteriosclerosis or atrial fibrillation.  Under these circumstances, a number of uncommon conditions, including  thrombophilias, should be considered and investigated (see table 1: Causes and work-up).

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  • Background and summary The cause  of fluctuating INRs in patients on warfarin is often not clear.  The following causes should be considered. Solutions how to deal with fluctuating INRs are listed further below.

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  • Confusion as to which veins of arms and legs are superficial and which are deep can lead to an incorrect diagnosis. As treatment of clots in superficial veins (= superficial thrombophlebitis) is different to that of clots in deep veins (DVT = deep vein thrombosis), the distinction between superficial and deep veins is important.

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  • Confusion as to which veins of arms and legs are superficial and which are deep can lead to misclassification superficial thrombophlebitis and DVT and, thus, to incorrect treatment decisions. A. Arm Veins Graph of  Arm vein terminology Basilic and cephalic veins are superficial veins; Brachial veins

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  • Xarelto® – Good News

    Summary Good news. A major study published in December 2010 in the  New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) shows that the new oral “blood thinner” Xarelto® (=Rivaroxaban) is (a) as safe and effective as warfarin in patients with acute DVT, and (b) is quite effective in preventing recurrent venous thromboembolism if taken longer-term, with an

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  • Xarelto® – Good News

    Summary Good news. A major study published in December 2010 in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) shows that the new oral “blood thinner” Xarelto® (=Rivaroxaban) is (a) as safe and effective as warfarin in patients with acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and (b) is quite effective in preventing recurrent blood clots (DVT

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  • May-Thurner Syndrome

    Summary A congenital stenosis of the left main pelvic vein (= left common iliac vein) by pressure from the overlying right common iliac artery (image 1) is referred to as May Thurner syndrome. While this anatomic variant is a risk factor for DVT, in many people is causes no symptoms and is irrelevant.

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  • May-Thurner Syndrome

    Summary Some people have a narrowing of their big left pelvic vein (= left common iliac vein) that can put them at risk for a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis = DVT) in that area and in the left leg. The narrowing is due to pressure onto the vein by the overlying big pelvic artery

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  • Major and life-threatening bleeding is expected to occur in some patients treated with Pradaxa® (=Dabigatran). The question will then urgently arise how to best treat such catastrophic bleeding.

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  • Major and life-threatening bleeding is expected to occur in some patients treated with Pradaxa® (=Dabigatran). The question will then urgently arise how to best treat such catastrophic bleeding.  As there have been no data published on this topic in the peer-reviewed medical literature, we don’t know how to best manage a patient with major and

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