DVT
ANCHOR LEAD: THE US SURGEON GENERAL HAS ISSUED A CALL TO ACTION REGARDING DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS, ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS
Deep vein thrombosis, also known as DVT, is the formation of a blood clot in a vein, most often in the legs, that may subsequently break loose and travel to the lungs, heart or brain and may result in death. The US surgeon general has just issued a call to action for physicians and the public to increase awareness of DVT. Elizabeth Ratchford, director of the Johns Hopkins vascular clinic, applauds the move.
RATCHFORD: Venous thromboembosities or DVT or deep vein thrombosis has a lot of different names but it’s a very common problem that affects hundreds of thousands of people every year and not many people know about it. So I think that the surgeon general’s call to action is a great way to put this on the map as something that people think about, and I think that this a particularly important one because of significant morbidity and mortality that people suffer from, so a lot of complications that you can suffer from this diagnosis and there’s a good chance of dying as well. :295
Ratchford says anyone with persistent pain in their calf muscles should be suspicious. I’m Elizabeth Tracey reporting.
