Help us Promote DVT Awareness Month

March is DVT awareness month.  Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Awareness Month is a multi-faceted campaign aimed at raising awareness among consumers, healthcare professionals and policy-makers about DVT and PE on a national and local level.  Consider these facts from the Coalition to Prevent DVT:

• According to the American Heart Association, DVT occurs in about 2 million Americans every year.
• More people suffer from DVT annually than heart attack and stroke.
• Up to 600,000 patients are hospitalized each year for DVT.
• Pulmonary embolism causes more deaths annually in the United States than breast cancer, AIDS and highway fatalities (combined).
• Fatal PE may be the most common preventable cause of hospital death in the United States.
• Only one-third of hospitalized patients with risk factors for blood clots received preventive treatment, according to a U.S. multicenter study.
• Without preventive treatment, up to 60 percent of patients who undergo total hip replacement surgery may develop DVT.
• Cancer patients undergoing surgical procedures have at least twice the risk of postoperative DVT and more than three times the risk of fatal PE than non-cancer patients undergoing similar procedures.
• In the elderly, DVT is associated with a 21 percent one-year mortality rate, and PE is associated with a 39 percent one-year mortality rate.
• PE is the leading cause of maternal death associated with childbirth. A woman’s risk of developing Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) is six times greater when she is pregnant.

Long term, patients who have suffered a DVT can develop chronic leg swelling and pain that can significantly impact their quality of life.

According to the American Public Health Association, 74% of Americans have little or no awareness of DVT.  Help us spread the word!  At INOVIA® Vein Specialty Center, we are getting the word out about DVT to local healthcare providers in our yearly campaign to do our part.  For more information about what you can do locally and nationally, follow updates from the National ClotCare Online Resource.