Causes - Potential Complications of Blood Clotting
Blood vessels that transport oxygenated blood throughout your body are called arteries and blood vessels that transport deoxygenated blood back to your heart and lungs are called veins. Blood that travels back up to your heart must work against gravity, so veins have special one-way valves that aid in the process.
Muscles located in close proximity to deep veins also aid in circulation. When you walk, exercise, stretch, and move about, the muscles of your legs squeeze deep leg veins, helping return blood to your heart and lungs.
When tissue trauma is coupled with an elevation in clotting factors or immobility, DVT risk increases. As a result, blood may begin to pool in the veins, increasing the risk of blood clots or DVT.
If a blood clot then breaks away and travels to another part of the body, life-threatening complications may occur, the most serious of which is pulmonary embolism.
Left untreated, over time DVT also might lead to post-phlebitic syndrome.
