Deep Vein Thrombosis (Blood Clot in the Leg, DVT) Glossary of Terms

Abdomen: The belly, that part of the body that contains all of the structures between the chest and the pelvis. The abdomen is separated anatomically from the chest by the diaphragm, the powerful muscle spanning the body cavity below the lungs.
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Alteplase: Generic name of a tissue plasminogen activator produced by recombinant DNA technology. The brand name is Activase. See: Tissue plasminogen activator.

Anticoagulant: Any agent used to prevent the formation of blood clots.
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Birth control: Birth control is the use of any practices, methods, or devices to prevent pregnancy from occurring in a sexually active woman. Also referred to as family planning, pregnancy prevention, fertility control, or contraception; birth control methods are designed either to prevent fertilization of an egg or implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.
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Blood clot: Blood that has been converted from a liquid to a solid state. Also called a thrombus.
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Blood clots: Blood that has been converted from a liquid to a solid state. Also called a thrombus.
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Bowel: Another name for the intestine. The small bowel and the large bowel are the small intestine and large intestine, respectively.
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Brain: That part of the central nervous system that is located within the cranium (skull). The brain functions as the primary receiver, organizer and distributor of information for the body. It has two (right and left) halves called "hemispheres."

Breathing: The process of respiration, during which air is inhaled into the lungs through the mouth or nose due to muscle contraction, and then exhaled due to muscle relaxation.

Calf: The belly or fleshy hind part of the leg below the knee. The calf is made up mainly of the gastrocnemius muscle (which comes from the Greek "gastroknemia" meaning calf of the leg, from "gaster" (gastr-), belly, + "kneme," leg).
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Cancer: An abnormal growth of cells which tend to proliferate in an uncontrolled way and, in some cases, to metastasize (spread).
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Catheter: A thin, flexible tube. For example, a catheter placed in a vein provides a pathway for giving drugs, nutrients, fluids, or blood products. Samples of blood can also be withdrawn through the catheter.
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Chest: The area of the body located between the neck and the abdomen. The chest contains the lungs, the heart and part of the aorta. The walls of the chest are supported by the dorsal vertebrae, the ribs, and the sternum.
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Chest pain: There are many causes of chest pain. One is angina which results from inadequate oxygen supply to the heart muscle. Angina can be caused by coronary artery disease or spasm of the coronary arteries. Chest pain can also be due to a heart attack (coronary occlusion) and other important diseases such as, for example, dissection of the aorta and a pulmonary embolism. Do not try to ignore chest pain and "work (or play) though it." Chest pain is a warning to seek medical attention.

Circulation: The movement of fluid in a regular or circuitous course. Although the noun "circulation" does not necessarily refer to the circulation of the blood, for all practical purposes today it does. Heart failure is an example of a problem with the circulation.

Coagulation: In medicine, the clotting of blood. The process by which the blood clots to form solid masses, or clots.
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Collarbone: A horizontal bone above the first rib that makes up the front part of the shoulder.
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Complication: In medicine, an additional problem that arises following a procedure, treatment or illness and is secondary to it. A complication complicates the situation.

Compression: 1. The act of pressing together. As in a compression fracture, nerve compression, or spinal cord compression.
2. To shorten in time. In embryology, there may be compression of development with some stages even omitted.

CT scan: Computerized tomography scan. Pictures of structures within the body created by a computer that takes the data from multiple X-ray images and turns them into pictures on a screen. CT stands for computerized tomography.
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Deep vein thrombosis: A blood clot (thrombus) in a deep vein in the thigh or leg. The clot can break off as an embolus and make its way to the lung, where it can cause respiratory distress and respiratory failure.
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Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease; the identification of an illness. 2 A conclusion or decision reached by diagnosis. The diagnosis is rabies. 3 The identification of any problem. The diagnosis was a plugged IV.
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Doppler ultrasound: A form of ultrasound that can detect and measure blood flow. Doppler ultrasound depends on the Doppler effect, a change in the frequency of a wave resulting here from the motion of a reflector, the red blood cell.
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Drip: In medical usage, a drip is not a dull, unattractive person but a device for administering a fluid drop-by-drop into a vein. It is an intravenous (IV) fluid dripping into a vein, an intravenous fluid drip, a solution (usually a balanced electrolyte solution) administered directly into the venous circulation. It is, for short, an IV.

Elbow: The juncture of the long bones in the middle portion of the arm. The bone of the upper arm (humerus) meets both the ulna (the inner bone of the forearm) and radius (the outer bone of the forearm) to form a hinge joint at the elbow. The radius and ulna also meet one another in the elbow to permit a small amount of rotation of the forearm. The elbow therefore functions to move the arm like a hinge (forward and backward) and in rotation (outward and inward). The biceps muscle is the major muscle that flexes the elbow hinge, and the triceps muscle is the major muscle that extends it. The primary stability of the elbow is provided by the ulnar collateral ligament, located on the medial (inner) side of the elbow. The outer bony prominence of the elbow is the lateral epicondyle, a part of the humerus bone. Tendons attached to this area can be injured, causing inflammation or tendonitis (lateral epicondylitis, or tennis elbow). The inner portion of the elbow is a bony prominence called the medial epicondyle of the humerus. Additional tendons from muscles attach here and can be injured, likewise causing inflammation or tendonitis (medial epicondylitis, or golfer's elbow). See also: Elbow bursitis; Elbow pain; Nursemaid's elbow.

Emboli: Something that travels through the bloodstream, lodges in a blood vessel and blocks it. Examples of emboli are a detached blood clot, a clump of bacteria, and foreign material such as air.
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Embolism: The obstruction of a blood vessel by a foreign substance or a blood clot blocking the vessel. Something travels through the bloodstream, lodges in a vessel and plugs it.
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Embolus: Something that travels through the bloodstream, lodges in a blood vessel and blocks it. Examples of emboli are a detached blood clot, a clump of bacteria, and foreign material such as air.
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Emergency department: The department of a hospital responsible for the provision of medical and surgical care to patients arriving at the hospital in need of immediate care. Emergency department personnel may also respond to certain situations within the hospital such cardiac arrests.
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Enoxaparin: A low-molecular-weight version of heparin which acts like heparin as an anticoagulant (anti-clotting) medication. Enoxaparin is used to prevent thromboembolic complications (clots that travel from their site of origin through the blood stream to clog up another vessel). Enoxaparin is also used in the early treatment of blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary embolisms).

Estrogen: Estrogen is a female hormone produced by the ovaries. Estrogen deficiency can lead to osteoporosis.
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Family physician: A physician who is educated and trained in family practice.
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Femoral: Having to do with the femur or, less often, the thigh. As in the femoral head (the head of the femur), the femoral artery, and femoral vein.

Femoral vein: The largest vein in the groin. The femoral vein is a continuation of the popliteal vein. It passes, together with the femoral artery, beneath the inguinal ligament to enter the abdomen and form the external iliac vein. The femoral vein is one portion of the venous system that carries blood from the lower extremity back to the heart.
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Fluoroscopy: An x-ray procedure that makes it possible to see internal organs in motion.
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Gastrointestinal: Adjective referring collectively to the stomach and small and large intestines.
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Genetic: Having to do with genes and genetic information.

Groin: In anatomy, the area where the upper thigh meets the trunk. More precisely, the fold or depression marking the juncture of the lower abdomen and the inner part of the thigh.
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Heart: The muscle that pumps blood received from veins into arteries throughout the body. It is positioned in the chest behind the sternum (breastbone; in front of the trachea, esophagus, and aorta; and above the diaphragm muscle that separates the chest and abdominal cavities. The normal heart is about the size of a closed fist, and weighs about 10.5 ounces. It is cone-shaped, with the point of the cone pointing down to the left. Two-thirds of the heart lies in the left side of the chest with the balance in the right chest.
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Heart attack: The death of heart muscle due to the loss of blood supply. The loss of blood supply is usually caused by a complete blockage of a coronary artery, one of the arteries that supplies blood to the heart muscle. Death of the heart muscle, in turn, causes chest pain and electrical instability of the heart muscle tissue.
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Heart failure: Inability of the heart to keep up with the demands on it and, specifically, failure of the heart to pump blood with normal efficiency. When this occurs, the heart is unable to provide adequate blood flow to other organs such as the brain, liver and kidneys. Heart failure may be due to failure of the right or left or both ventricles. The signs and symptoms depend upon which side of the heart is failing. They can include shortness of breath (dyspnea), asthma due to the heart (cardiac asthma), pooling of blood (stasis) in the general body (systemic) circulation or in the liver's (portal) circulation, swelling (edema), blueness or duskiness (cyanosis), and enlargement (hypertrophy) of the heart.
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Heparin: An anticoagulant (anti-clotting) medication. Heparin is useful in preventing thromboembolic complications (clots that travel from their site of origin through the blood stream to clog up another vessel). Heparin is also used in the early treatment of blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary embolisms).

High altitude: Altitude sickness occurs at high altitude. So what is high altitude?
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Hormone: A chemical substance produced in the body that controls and regulates the activity of certain cells or organs.
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Hormone therapy: A form of treatment that takes advantage of the fact that certain cancers depend on hormones to grow. Hormone therapy may include giving hormones to the patient or decreasing the level of hormones in the body.

Hypercoagulable state: A hypercoagulable state is the medical term for a condition in which there is an abnormally increased tendency toward blood clotting (coagulation).
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Iliac: Pertaining to the ilium.

Infection: The growth of a parasitic organism within the body. (A parasitic organism is one that lives on or in another organism and draws its nourishment therefrom.) A person with an infection has another organism (a "germ") growing within him, drawing its nourishment from the person.
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Inferior: In anatomy, below or toward the feet. As opposed to superior. The liver is inferior to the lungs.
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Inferior vena cava: A large vein that receives blood from the lower extremities, pelvis and abdomen and delivers it to the right atrium of the heart.

Inflammation: A basic way in which the body reacts to infection, irritation or other injury, the key feature being redness, warmth, swelling and pain. Inflammation is now recognized as a type of nonspecific immune response.
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Injury: Harm or hurt. The term "injury" may be applied in medicine to damage inflicted upon oneself as in a hamstring injury or by an external agent on as in a cold injury. The injury may be accidental or deliberate, as with a needlestick injury. The term "injury" may be synonymous (depending on the context) with a wound or with trauma.

International normalized ratio: A system, commonly called the INR, established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Committee on Thrombosis and Hemostasis for reporting the results of blood coagulation (clotting) tests. All results are standardized using the international sensitivity index for the particular thromboplastin reagent and instrument combination utilized to perform the test.
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Intracranial: Within the cranium, the bony dome that houses and protects the brain.
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Knee: The knee is a joint which has three parts. The thigh bone (the femur) meets the large shin bone (the tibia) to form the main knee joint. This joint has an inner (medial) and an outer (lateral) compartment. The kneecap (the patella) joins the femur to form a third joint, called the patellofemoral joint. The patella protects the front of the knee joint.
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Leg: In popular usage, the leg extends from the top of the thigh down to the foot. However, in medical terminology, the leg refers to the portion of the lower extremity from the knee to the ankle.
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Lower leg: The lower leg is the bottom segment of the leg: the part below the knee.
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Lungs: The lungs are a pair of breathing organs located with the chest which remove carbon dioxide from and bring oxygen to the blood. There is a right and left lung.

Obese: Well above ones normal weight. A person has traditionally been considered to be obese if they are more than 20 percent over their ideal weight. That ideal weight must take into account the person's height, age, sex, and build.
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Obesity: The state of being well above one's normal weight.
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Onset: In medicine, the first appearance of the signs or symptoms of an illness as, for example, the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. There is always an onset to a disease but never to the return to good health. The default setting is good health.
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Organ: A relatively independent part of the body that carries out one or more special functions. The organs of the human body include the eye, ear, heart, lungs, and liver.

Organ failure: The failure of an essential system in the body. Multiple organ failure is the failure of two or more systems, such as the cardiovascular, and renal systems, and is a common consequence of sepsis (the presence of bacteria in the bloods) and of shock (very low blood pressure).

Outpatient: A patient who is not an inpatient (not hospitalized) but instead is cared for elsewhere -- as in a doctor's office, clinic, or day surgery center. The term outpatient dates back at least to 1715. Outpatient care today is also called ambulatory care.

Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pain has both physical and emotional components. The physical part of pain results from nerve stimulation. Pain may be contained to a discrete area, as in an injury, or it can be more diffuse, as in disorders like fibromyalgia. Pain is mediated by specific nerve fibers that carry the pain impulses to the brain where their conscious appreciation may be modified by many factors.
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Pelvis: The lower part of the abdomen located between the hip bones.

Pregnant: The state of carrying a developing fetus within the body.
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Probability: The likelihood that something will happen. For example, a probability of less than .05 indicates that the probability of something occurring by chance alone is less than 5 in 100, or 5 percent. This level of probability is usually taken as the level of biologic significance, so a higher incidence may be considered meaningful. The abbreviation for probability is P.

Prothrombin: A coagulation (clotting) factor that is needed for the normal clotting of blood. A cascade of biochemical events leads to the formation of the final clot. In this cascade, prothrombin is a precursor to thrombin.
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Prothrombin time: A clotting test, the prothrombin time is done to test the integrity of part of the clotting scheme. The prothrombin time is commonly used as a method of monitoring the accuracy of blood thinning treatment (anticoagulation) with warfarin (Coumadin). Familiarly called the "pro time," the test is the time needed for clot formation after a substance called thromboplastin (+ calcium) has been added to plasma.
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Proximal: Toward the beginning, the nearer of two (or more) items. For example, the proximal end of the femur is part of the hip joint, and the shoulder is proximal to the elbow. The opposite of proximal is distal.
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Pulmonary: Having to do with the lungs. (The word comes from the Latin pulmo for lung).

Pulmonary embolism: The obstruction of the pulmonary artery or a branch of it leading to the lungs by a blood clot, usually from the leg, or foreign material causing sudden closure of the vessel. (Embolus is from the Greek "embolos" meaning plug.)
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Pulmonary embolus: A blood clot that has passed into and occluded the lung's pulmonary artery. An embolus causes an embolism. In this case, the embolus, a clot or foreign material, has been carried through the blood into the pulmonary artery or one of its branches, plugging the vessel.

Recur: To occur again. To return. Any symptom (such as fatigue), any sign (such as a heart murmur), or any disease can recur.

Recurrence: The return of a sign, symptom or disease after a remission. The reappearance of cancer cells at the same site or in another location is, unfortunately, a familiar form of recurrence.
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Recurrent: Back again. A recurrent fever is a fever that has returned after an intermission: a recrudescent fever.

Respiratory: Having to do with respiration, the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. From the Latin re- (again) + spirare (to breathe) = to breathe again.

Risk factor: Something that increases a person's chances of developing a disease.

Scan: As a noun, the data or image obtained from the examination of organs or regions of the body by gathering information with a sensing device.
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Shortness of breath: Difficulty in breathing. Medically referred to as dyspnea. Shortness of breath can be caused by respiratory (breathing passages and lungs) or circulatory (heart and blood vessels) conditions. See also dyspnea.

Stage: As regards cancer, the extent of a cancer, especially whether the disease has spread from the original site to other parts of the body. See also: Staging.

Stomach: 1. The sac-shaped digestive organ that is located in the upper abdomen, under the ribs. The upper part of the stomach connects to the esophagus, and the lower part leads into the small intestine.
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Stroke: The sudden death of some brain cells due to a lack of oxygen when the blood flow to the brain is impaired by blockage or rupture of an artery to the brain. A stroke is also called a cerebrovascular accident or, for short, a CVA.
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Subclavian: Under the clavicle (the collar bone), as the subclavian artery or the subclavian vein.

Surgery: The word "surgery" has multiple meanings. It is the branch of medicine concerned with diseases and conditions which require or are amenable to operative procedures. Surgery is the work done by a surgeon. By analogy, the work of an editor wielding his pen as a scalpel is s form of surgery. A surgery in England (and some other countries) is a physician's or dentist's office.
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Symptom: Any subjective evidence of disease. Anxiety, lower back pain, and fatigue are all symptoms. They are sensations only the patient can perceive. In contrast, a sign is objective evidence of disease. A bloody nose is a sign. It is evident to the patient, doctor, nurse and other observers.

Syndrome: A set of signs and symptoms that tend to occur together and which reflect the presence of a particular disease or an increased chance of developing a particular disease.
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Therapy: The treatment of disease.
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Thigh: The thigh extends from the hip to the knee. The thigh has only one bone, the femur which is the largest bone in the human body.
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Thrombectomy: Procedure to remove a clot (a thrombus).

Thromboembolism: Formation in a blood vessel of a clot (thrombus) that breaks loose and is carried by the blood stream to plug another vessel. The clot may plug a vessel in the lungs (pulmonary embolism), brain (stroke), gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, or leg. Thromboembolism is an important cause of morbidity (disease) and mortality (death), especially in adults. Treatment may involve anticoagulants (bloodthinners), aspirin, or vasodilators (drugs that relax and widen vessels).

Thrombophlebitis: Inflammation of a vein that occurs when a blood clot forms. See also phlebitis.

Thrombosis: The formation or presence of a blood clot in a blood vessel. The vessel may be any vein or artery as, for example, in a deep vein thrombosis or a coronary (artery) thrombosis. The clot itself is termed a thrombus. If the clot breaks loose and travels through the bloodstream, it is a thromboembolism. Thrombosis, thrombus, and the prefix thrombo- all come from the Greek thrombos meaning a lump or clump, or a curd or clot of milk. See entries also to: Cavernous sinus thrombosis; Renal vein thrombosis. And see: Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism.

Trauma: Any injury, whether physically or emotionally inflicted. "Trauma" has both a medical and a psychiatric definition. Medically, "trauma" refers to a serious or critical bodily injury, wound, or shock. This definition is often associated with trauma medicine practiced in emergency rooms and represents a popular view of the term. In psychiatry, "trauma" has assumed a different meaning and refers to an experience that is emotionally painful, distressful, or shocking, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects.
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Ultrasound: High-frequency sound waves. Ultrasound waves can be bounced off of tissues using special devices. The echoes are then converted into a picture called a sonogram. Ultrasound imaging, referred to as ultrasonography, allows physicians and patients to get an inside view of soft tissues and body cavities, without using invasive techniques. Ultrasound is often used to examine a fetus during pregnancy. There is no convincing evidence for any danger from ultrasound during pregnancy.

Vein: A blood vessel that carries blood low in oxygen content from the body back to the heart. The deoxygenated form of hemoglobin (deoxyhemoglobin) in venous blood makes it appear dark. Veins are part of the afferent wing of the circulatory system which returns blood to the heart.
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Vena cava: The superior vena cava is the large vein which returns blood to the heart from the head, neck and both upper limbs. The inferior vena cava returns blood to the heart from the lower part of the body.
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Vessel: A tube in the body that carries fluids: blood vessels or lymph vessels.

Warfarin: An anticoagulant drug (brand names: Coumarin, Panwarfin, Sofarin) taken to prevent the blood from clotting and to treat blood clots and overly thick blood. Warfarin is also used to reduce the risk of clots causing strokes or heart attacks.
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X-ray: 1. High-energy radiation with waves shorter than those of visible light. X-rays possess the properties of penetrating most substances (to varying extents), of acting on a photographic film or plate (permitting radiography), and of causing a fluorescent screen to give off light (permitting fluoroscopy). In low doses X-rays are used for making images that help to diagnose disease, and in high doses to treat cancer. Formerly called a Roentgen ray. 2. An image obtained by means of X-rays.