NUR 259 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Deep Vein Thrombosis, Antithrombin, Heparin
Document Summary
It"s part of the indirect thrombin inhibitors family, and it"s an anticoagulant: heparin indirectly inhibits thrombin how, by affecting the intrinsic pathway of clotting, this pathway is normally activated by internal vascular trauma. It does this by enhancing the activity of antithrombin iii ( a natural substance in our body). Slows down the clotting process and helps prevent blood clots: when coagulation occurs abnormally, a venous thromboembolism (vte) can occur. There are two types of these: deep vein thrombosis (dvt): this is where a clot forms within a vessel. It can break off and travel in circulation and when it does this it is known as an . : embolism: the most common type of embolism that can happen is a pulmonary embolism. This is where the dvt broke off and travelled into circulation where it went to the lungs. An embolism can also cause a stroke or heart attack.
