Venous Thromboembolism - Screening and Prevention - Screening and Prevention

If you are preparing to go to the hospital for a procedure or have other risk factors for VTE, talk with your doctor about a plan for preventing blood clots from forming. Doctors may suggest three ways to help prevent VTE:

• Movement. Helping your blood circulate makes it harder for clots to form. Your doctor may recommend that you move around as soon as possible after surgery and as you heal. If you cannot get up and walk, try to flex and stretch your feet to improve blood flow in your calves.
• Pressure. Gentle pressure keeps blood from pooling and clotting. Your doctor may recommend applying pressure—for example, by wearing a sleeve or boot that periodically fills with air, or by wearing graduated compression stockings.
• Medicines. Your doctor may give you anticoagulant, or blood-thinning, medicines to prevent clotting. Sometimes this preventive therapy starts before surgery. Or, you may be asked to take a blood thinner during your recovery period at home. These medicines, such as heparin, warfarin, and direct oral anticoagulants, are also used to treat VTE.

Your doctor may recommend some combination of these preventive treatments for a month or more after surgery. These approaches to prevention may also be appropriate if you are admitted to the hospital for reasons other than surgery, cannot move for an extended period, or have a condition that makes it more likely that your blood will clot.

• Diagnosis will discuss tests and procedures that your doctor may use to diagnose VTE.
• Life After will explain what your doctor may recommend to prevent your VTE from recurring, getting worse, or causing complications.
• Research for Your Health will discuss how we are using current research and advancing research to prevent VTE.
• Participate in NHLBI Clinical Trials will explain our ongoing clinical studies that are investigating prevention strategies for VTE.