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Embolisms Risk Factor

Extended for being immobile during the long-haul air travel increases the risk of developing blood clots, report medical researchers in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Long-haul air travel may develop Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), the formation of a blood clot within one of the large, deep veins of the pelvis or lower limbs.
As the blood clot breaks into smaller pieces, it floats in the blood and becomes tight in the blood vessels, supplying the lungs, a pulmonary embolism, lead to sudden death.

Researchers evaluated patient at information Mayo Clinic and discovered that of 181,756 patients who had undergone operations between 1998 and 2002, a total of 3,736 traveled more than an average of 5,000 miles before going though another surgery. These long-haul travelers have over 30 times higher case of pulmonary embolisms within 28 days of surgery compared to the the ones who either did not travel or traveled short distances only.
According to researchers the risk of blood clots may include long periods of immobility during flight, restriction of leg veins due to compression on the legs from the edge of the seat, and possibly dehydration due to lowered fluid intake or excessive intake of alcohol during the flight.
In a second study that is also published in Proceedings, researchers noticed that an increased link between the duration of anesthesia for patients that underwent hip or knee replacement surgery and blood clots in the veins after surgery. Assessment of the patient data suggests a threshold of anesthesia duration of 3.5 hours that raised the odds of a patient having blood clots in the veins.