Introduction
The risk of thrombosis is significantly increased during pregnancy. A thrombosis is basically the blockage of a vessel by a blood clot. The blood clots and clumps and the blood flow can either be stopped completely or become significantly weaker.
Normally this is vital to ensure that injuries are closed quickly and the body does not lose too much blood. However, if this process happens inside the vessel, usually in veins, it leads to blood congestion, which can sometimes be dangerous. Thromboses can occur anywhere in the body, but in pregnancy it is usually the deep veins of the legs that are affected.
Causes
In thrombosis, which occurs in connection with pregnancy, there are special causes and reasons. During pregnancy, the hormone balance of the expectant mother changes significantly and so does the composition of the blood. In addition, the corpus luteum hormone progesterone, which is responsible for preparing the uterus for implantation of the egg, is released in increased quantities.
This requires the activation of vessels and cells that will later supply the unborn child. Progesterone also helps to store water in the body. Under the influence of this hormone, the vessels expand significantly and their walls become more elastic.
The larger the diameter of the vessels becomes, the slower the blood flow. This fact is based on a physical law, the law of flow, which states that the flow is highest where the cross-section is smallest. In addition, the risk of getting a thrombosis again increases if you have had one in a previous pregnancy.
Heredity also plays a major role in this. If the mother or grandmother has already suffered from it, this can also continue in younger generations. It is also important to mention that, especially towards the end of the pregnancy, the growing child presses on the abdominal veins, thus slowing down the blood flow again.
In addition, there are, of course, factors that are further intensified by pregnancy. This means that if the patient has already had a certain risk of thrombosis before, this is only intensified by the pregnancy. This means that if damage to the inner vascular skin has already existed before, thrombosis will develop even more easily.
This damage can be caused by smoking or diabetes mellitus, for example. Trauma can also cause injuries and thus weaken the vessel walls. In addition, congenital or acquired venous weakness and varicose veins can also be risk factors. Poor exercise also promotes a slower blood flow. This situation occurs, for example, during a long-haul flight (
