Blood Clot News and Research

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A Blood Clot is a mass of blood that forms when blood platelets, proteins, and cells stick together. When a blood clot is attached to the wall of a blood vessel, it is called a thrombus. When it moves through the bloodstream and blocks the flow of blood in another part of the body, it is called an embolus.

Hypertension, diabetes and obesity are important independent predictors of increased complications for patients undergoing major joint replacement surgery

Using a database of nearly 1 million Americans who underwent major joint replacement surgery, a team led by researchers at Duke University Medical Center have determined those surgical patients with diabetes, hypertension or obesity were significantly more likely to suffer post-operative complications.

1 Jun 2005

Long-haul flights, length of time under anesthesia increase risk of developing blood clots

The prolonged immobility of flight passengers during long-haul air travel increases the risk of developing blood clots, which could prove fatal especially to people whose travel occurs just prior to major surgery, medical researchers report in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

31 May 2005

Fluorescence device to diagnose atherosclerosis and tumors

In a presentation at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Biophotonics Research and Technology Development Laboratory described recent progress on a device that stimulates, collects and measures light emissions from body tissues to diagnose critical atherosclerotic plaques (vulnerable plaques) and aggressive brain tumors.

29 May 2005

Competition from specialty hospitals promotes high-quality patient care

Specialty hospitals provide quality care to patients by offering new choices, and this hospital competition should not be stifled, the American Medical Association (AMA) testified to a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs this week.

26 May 2005

Direct link between inefficient metabolism and atherosclerosis

An experiment that turned out very differently than expected led scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to the first direct link between inefficient metabolism and atherosclerosis.

26 May 2005

Study shows how COX-2 inhibitors lead to heart disease

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have found additional evidence that may help explain how selective inhibitors of COX-2 might predispose individuals to heart disease and stroke.

26 May 2005

Obstructive sleep apnea significantly increases the risk of suffering a stroke

Moderate to severe cases of the nighttime breathing problem known as obstructive sleep apnea significantly increases the risk of suffering a stroke, according to a study to be presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 23.

23 May 2005

Patients at high risk of stroke may need to continue Warfarin therapy after heart rhythm is controlled

Treatment with warfarin, a medication that prevents blood clotting, may reduce the risk of stroke by more than two-thirds in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), a condition which places them at high risk of stroke, according to a study in the May 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

23 May 2005

Zevalin safe and effective for non-Hogdkin's lymphoma patients

According to a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) study, patients with advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) previously treated with chemotherapy and adult stem cell transplantation can safely tolerate Zevalin (ibritumomab tiuxetan), a radiolabeled monoclonal antibody that targets radiation directly to a tumor.

17 May 2005

Patients who have a blood clot are at high risk of having another one, and men have more than twice the risk as women

While estimates of the overall risk of a thrombotic (blood clot) event recurrence vary, reports on contributing factors are contradictory, according to background information in the article. Knowledge of the risk of a thrombotic event recurrence and its determinants is relevant for clinical policy regarding screening for thrombophilia (increased risk for blood clot), duration of anticoagulant treatment, and treatment strategies in circumstances of increased risk.

17 May 2005

Tumor vasculature has become an attractive target in the treatment of cancer.

Treatment with a protein fused to an antibody in tumor-bearing mice led to coagulation of the blood within the tumor blood vessels, tumor tissue death, and tumor growth delay, according to a new study in the May 18 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

17 May 2005

New discovery sparks hope of safer dosage of Warfarin

The blood-thinning drug Warfarin tops the list of drug side-effects in Sweden. Patient sensitivity to Warfarin varies, which can lead to over-dosage and in certain cases to death.

17 May 2005

Bevacizumab (Avastin) combined with low-dose chemotherapy slows ovarian cancer

A targeted cancer drug given with low-dose chemotherapy shrank ovarian tumors and slowed progression of ovarian cancer in patients with recurrent disease, according to research findings presented by Agustin Garcia, M.D., principal investigator of the study and Director of Breast Cancer Research at the Women's Cancer Research Institute at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

16 May 2005

New drug which quickly dissolves blood clots and returns circulation to normal

Cardiovascular patients now have a greater chance of surviving heart attacks after Chinese scientists developed a new drug which quickly dissolves blood clots and returns circulation to normal.

15 May 2005

Research findings help predict risk of blood clots in women receiving tamoxifen therapy for breast cancer

New research findings may help physicians determine which women have an increased risk of blood clots when taking tamoxifen for the management of breast cancer, a team led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators will report at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting.

15 May 2005

National stroke study sets new practice standard for Canada

A Canada-wide clinical research study of more than 1000 stroke patients has put to rest a long-standing controversy about the use of thrombolysis for stroke. The two-year study, Canadian Alteplase for Stroke Effectiveness Study (CASES), recommends the widespread use of clot-busting drugs for acute stroke.

11 May 2005

Cocaine use increases the risk of coronary aneurysms

Researchers in Minnesota say that cocaine users may be putting themselves at risk of coronary aneurysms, a ballooning of the walls of coronary arteries, which is potentially fatal.

9 May 2005

Australian-designed heart pump gives new hope to heart patients

A 56-year-old New Zealand man, a heart failure patient, is recovering in hospital after world-first surgery to implant an Australian-designed device which helps the heart pump blood.

9 May 2005

Survey of ED doctors shows team-based stroke care, risk-reducing measures, needed to increase use of tPA

Forty percent of emergency physicians say they're unlikely to give stroke patients the only FDA-approved drug shown to improve their prognosis, even in an ideal setting, mostly because of the fear of causing brain bleeding.

5 May 2005

Specific variants of genes predict bleeding after heart surgery

Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that the presence of specific variants of genes that control clotting and the contractility, or "tone," of blood vessels can double the ability of physicians to predict those heart surgery patients at greatest risk of bleeding after surgery.

4 May 2005