These veins can appear for many different reasons. People may get varicose veins even if they have never had a blood clot. By contrast, PTS is caused by blood clot damage in the valves in the deep veins.
If you have had a blood clot in your leg, you might develop varicose veins. Your health care provider will look for varicose veins to help determine whether you have PTS. This procedure is either called a thrombectomy, which is a surgery to remove the blood clot, or a thrombolysis, which is a surgery to dissolve the clot.
These are risky procedures, and they are usually reserved for the most severe clots that may stop blood flow to the leg. It is not known whether these procedures would help prevent PTS. Currently there is no safe or effective surgery which will replace or repair damaged deep vein valves. Certain types of exercise that keep your leg stronger and more flexible will improve your overall physical fitness and might help treat PTS. It is less common than PTS of the leg, but the symptoms and treatments are similar.
Patients with upper-extremity PTS have pain and swelling in the arm. The treatment is to wear a special compression sleeve on the arm, similar to compression stockings for the legs.
Based on what doctors know now, PTS only affects patients who have had a blood clot in the leg or arm. Sometimes the blood clot starts in the leg and then breaks off and moves to the lungs. If a blood clot was found in your leg as well as you lungs, you may still be at risk for getting PTS. If you have never had any blood clot symptoms in your leg, and a blood clot was not found in your leg, it is unlikely you will get PTS. Post-Thrombotic Syndrome. Vascular Cures is inviting patients and advocates to share their stories, advise on our programs, and help us advocate for patient needs.
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Vascular Cures is the only national non-profit representing the millions of patients with vascular disease. This is because symptoms of post-thrombotic syndrome may develop several months or even years after having a DVT. Compression stockings should be fitted professionally and your prescription should be reviewed every 3 to 6 months. The stockings need to be worn all day but can be taken off before going to bed or in the evening while you rest with your leg raised. A spare pair of compression stockings should also be provided.
Your healthcare team will usually advise you to walk regularly once compression stockings have been prescribed. This can help prevent symptoms of DVT returning and may help to improve or prevent complications of DVT, such as post-thrombotic syndrome. As well as wearing compression stockings, you might be advised to raise your leg whenever you're resting.
This helps to relieve the pressure in the veins of the calf and stops blood and fluid pooling in the calf itself. When raising your leg, make sure your foot is higher than your hip. This will help the returning blood flow from your calf. Putting a cushion underneath your leg while you're lying down should help raise your leg above the level of your hip. You can also slightly raise the end of your bed to ensure that your foot and calf are slightly higher than your hip.
Although anticoagulant medicines and compression stockings are usually the only treatments needed for DVT, inferior vena cava IVC filters may be used as an alternative. This is usually because anticoagulant treatment needs to be stopped, isn't suitable, or isn't working. IVC filters are small mesh devices that can be placed in a vein. They trap large fragments of a blood clot and stop it travelling to the heart and lungs.
They can be used to help prevent blood clots developing in the legs of people diagnosed with:. IVCs can be placed in the vein permanently, or newer types of filters can be placed temporarily and removed after the risk of a blood clot has decreased. The procedure to insert an IVC filter is carried out using a local anaesthetic where you're awake but the area is numb. A small cut is made in the skin and a catheter thin, flexible tube is inserted into a vein in the neck or groin area.
The catheter is guided using an ultrasound scan. The IVC filter is then inserted through the catheter and into the vein. The two main complications of deep vein thrombosis DVT are pulmonary embolism and post-thrombotic syndrome. A pulmonary embolism is the most serious complication of DVT. It happens when a piece of blood clot DVT breaks off and travels through your bloodstream to your lungs, where it blocks one of the blood vessels.
In severe cases this can be fatal. If the clot is small, it might not cause any symptoms. If it's medium-sized, it can cause chest pain and breathing difficulties. A large clot can cause the lungs to collapse, resulting in heart failure , which can be fatal. If you've had a DVT, you may develop long-term symptoms in your calf known as post-thrombotic syndrome. If you have DVT, the blood clot in the vein of your calf can divert the flow of blood to other veins, causing an increase in pressure.
This can affect the tissues of your calf and lead to symptoms, including:. When a DVT develops in your thigh vein, there's an increased risk of post-thrombotic syndrome occurring. It's also more likely to occur if you're overweight or if you've had more than one DVT in the same leg.
If you're admitted to hospital or planning to go into hospital for surgery, your risk of developing a blood clot while you're there will be assessed.
Surgery and some medical treatments can increase your risk of developing DVT — see causes of DVT for more information. If you're thought to be at risk of developing DVT, your healthcare team can take a number of measures to prevent a blood clot forming. If you're going into hospital to have an operation, and you're taking the combined contraceptive pill or hormone replacement therapy HRT , you'll be advised to temporarily stop taking your medication four weeks before your operation.
Similarly, if you're taking medication to prevent blood clots , such as aspirin , you may be advised to stop taking it one week before your operation. There's less risk of getting DVT when having a local anaesthetic compared with a general anaesthetic.
Your doctor will discuss whether it's possible for you to have a local anaesthetic. There are a number of things your healthcare team can do to help reduce your risk of getting DVT while you're in hospital. For example, they'll make sure you have enough to drink so you don't become dehydrated , and they'll also encourage you to move around as soon as you're able to.
Depending on your risk factors and individual circumstances, a number of different medications can be used to help prevent DVT. For example:. Compression stockings or compression devices are also commonly used to help keep the blood in your legs circulating.
Compression stockings are worn around your feet, lower legs and thighs, and fit tightly to encourage your blood to flow more quickly around your body. Compression devices are inflatable and work in the same way as compression stockings, inflating at regular intervals to squeeze your legs and encourage blood flow. Your healthcare team will usually advise you to walk regularly after you've been prescribed compression stockings. Keeping mobile can help prevent the symptoms of DVT returning and may help prevent or improve complications of DVT , such as post-thrombotic syndrome.
You may need to continue to take anticoagulant medicine and wear compression stockings when you leave hospital. Before you leave, your healthcare team should advise you about how to use your treatment, how long to continue using it for, and who to contact if you experience any problems.
If you're planning a long-distance plane, train or car journey journeys of six hours or more , make sure you:. Read more about preventing DVT when you travel. If you're travelling abroad, it's very important to ensure you're prepared should you or a family member fall ill.
Make sure you have full travel insurance to cover the cost of any healthcare you may need while abroad. This is particularly important if you have a pre-existing medical condition, such as cancer or heart disease , which may increase your risk of developing DVT. Read more about DVT in pregnancy. If you're travelling for 3 hours or more by plane, train or car, there are things you can do during the journey to reduce your risk of DVT. These include drinking plenty of water and avoiding alcohol.
Find out more tips to reduce your risk of travel-related DVT. If you go into hospital, your healthcare team should check your risks of DVT. If they think you're more likely to get DVT, you may be given treatment to prevent it, such as medicine or compression stockings knee-high elastic socks that help your blood circulation , while you're in hospital. You may continue treatment after you leave hospital because a blood clot can happen weeks later. You can also help protect yourself against DVT while you're in hospital by:.
Page last reviewed: 23 October Next review due: 23 October Your doctor may suggest putting a filter in your vena cava. This is the main vein that carries blood from your lower body to your heart. This filter can catch a clot as it moves through your bloodstream and prevent it from reaching your lungs. This treatment is more common for people who have had several blood clots travel to their lungs.
It is important to start treatment right away for DVT. It takes about 3 to 6 months for a blood clot to go away. During this time, there are things you can do to relieve symptoms. Elevate your leg to reduce swelling. Talk to your doctor about using compression stockings. These cover the arch of your foot up to your knee. They create pressure on your leg to reduce swelling and relieve pain. For some people, the clot may never fully dissolve.
This can cause scar tissue in your veins. DVT also can lead to post-thrombotic syndrome. People who get this have chronic long-term swelling and pain. If you have DVT and experience the following symptoms, get help right away. These are signs that the clot may have traveled to your lungs. You could be having a pulmonary embolism.
This article was contributed by: familydoctor. This information provides a general overview and may not apply to everyone. Talk to your family doctor to find out if this information applies to you and to get more information on this subject. This clot can then travel through your body. Your body continues to change in the second trimester of pregnancy. As your baby continues to grow, so does…. Visit The Symptom Checker. Read More. Food Poisoning.
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