Blood clots kills 300,000 a year in U.S.

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 17 (UPI) -- Blood clots strike more than 1 million in the United States -- killing 300,000 -- but have been overlooked as a public health threat, an expert says.

Dr. Thomas Wakefield, chief of the section of vascular surgery of the University of Michigan, says blood clots in the legs and pelvis, called DVTs -- short for deep-vein thrombosis -- are preventable.

"DVTs have been overlooked as a public health threat for many decades, but they're taking center stage now in the healthcare community, and we hope individuals will also become more aware," Wakefield says in a statement.

University of Michigan researchers led by Dr. Peter Henke, released findings, published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, on how low-molecular weight heparin helped vein wall recovery in mice.

Wakefield, Henke and Daniel Myers, also published a review on the mechanisms of vein clot formation and resolution in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. The paper provides evidence that inflammation plays a role in the formation of DVTs -- a finding that challenges previous thinking about their origin.

Hospitalized patients are one of the highest-risk groups for blood clots, but cancer patients, hip-replacement patients, pregnant women, the obese and anyone who sits a lot can be at risk, the researchers say.