Word: clots
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...Clinic staff at Narita International Airport gave her oxygen and rushed her to the nearby Red Cross Hospital. There Dr. Hiroshi Morio immediately diagnosed a pulmonary embolism: a blood clot that had lodged in her lungs, possibly as a result of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a condition often prompted by prolonged periods of immobility. "It was easy to diagnose," says Morio. "She was in a critical condition." For seven days Ishii's family kept a bedside vigil, and she was eventually discharged after three weeks. Eight months later, the 57-year-old still takes daily doses of anticoagulants. Ishii knew...
...unexpected health hazards associated with the skies, it is DVT that has most recently captured public attention. Sometimes referred to as economy-class syndrome, DVT can strike passengers in any section of an aircraft. In some victims the effect of the blood clots might be only a sharp stabbing pain and swelling in the lower leg. In others it might be much more serious - part of the clot may detach itself and travel through the bloodstream to the lungs, where it can cause a fatal obstruction. Last October, British traveler Emma Christofferson, 28, died shortly after flying home from Australia...
...Clots can form at various points in the leg, causing varying degrees of discomfort. ?You?ve got valves four-to-six inches up all of your veins,? says Kesteven. With DVT, ?you may form a little lump of a clot behind one of the valves.? Although the clots themselves are not life-threatening, the complications can be. The most serious is a pulmonary embolism?which occurs in 25-30% of DVT cases?when a piece of the clot breaks off and travels to the lung. In rare instances, part of a clot may lodge in other organs, including the brain...
Doctors are already exploring ways to make bypass operations easier on the brain. Some surgeons, for example, try to minimize the risk of shaking loose a clot by scanning the aorta with ultrasound for plaque-free regions at which to attach the heart-lung machine. Another option being tested in the U.S. is to stick a filter into the aorta to catch any wayward debris...
...indeed good for you. One of the first major studies to look at fish-eating women reports that those who consume seafood five times a week have a 50% lower risk of stroke. Reason: fatty acids in fish decrease the "stickiness" of blood, reducing the odds that a clot will form. Herring, salmon and bluefish have the most fatty acids; sole and haddock the least...