CausesRisk factors

There are many risk factors that increase the risk of thrombosis. It is the combination of different risk factors that increases the risk in particular. As safe factors of risk are considered:

Operations (especially artificial hip joint and artificial knee joint)
Overweight
Smoking
Gender (Women > Men)
Lack of exercise (long-distance flights= economy class syndrome))
Birth
Varicose veins (varicosis)
Blood diseases (leukemia)
Heart diseases (especially atrial fibrillation)
Drugs (especially oral contraceptives (“pill”))
Tumor diseases (e.g. prostate cancer or pancreatic cancer)
Hereditary diseases:APC resistance (“factor V Leiden mutation”) is the most common hereditary disease associated with a risk of thrombosis.
The risk of thrombosis is 7 – 100 times higher (depending on heredity). Antithrombin III deficiency (AT III) mainly affects younger patientsProtein C and Protein S deficiency: If these anticoagulant factors are reduced by a congenital deficiency, thrombosis can already occur in adolescence. Hyperhomocysteinemia is an inherited disordered ability to break down homocysteine with greatly increased homocysteine levels in the blood.The consequences include an increased risk of thrombosis. All the above-mentioned hereditary diseases can be diagnosed by blood tests.
Liver diseases with insufficient formation of coagulation factors (e.g. liver cirrhosis)

FrequencyOccurrence

In Germany about 200,000 thromboses are registered every year. Women are mainly affected.

SymptomsComplaints

There are no clear indications and signs that prove the presence of thrombosis. The symptoms can vary greatly, so that thrombosis can occur with few symptoms (1/3 of all cases). Symptoms that occur more frequently:

Muscle aching calf pain
Increase in complaints when standing, decrease when lying down
Increased venous drawing of the surface veins (bypass circulation), especially the front edge of the shinbone = Pratt’s warning veins
Overheating
Taut glossy skin
Calf pressure pain (Lowenberg – sign)
Calf pain during foot stretching (Hohmann – Sign)
Pain in the sole of the foot when pressing on the inner sole of the foot (Payr – sign)
Fever
Increase of inflammation values in the blood