Thrombosis causes

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Associate Editors-in-Chief: Ujjwal Rastogi, MBBS [2]

Etiology

Classically, thrombosis is caused by abnormalities in one or more of the following (Virchow's triad):

• The composition of the blood (hypercoagulability)
• Quality of the vessel wall (endothelial cell injury)
• Nature of the blood flow (hemostasis)

The formation of a thrombus is usually caused by the top three causes, known as Virchow's triad. To elaborate, the pathogenesis includes: an injury to the vessel's wall (such as by trauma, infection, or turbulent flow at bifurcations); by the slowing or stagnation of blood flow past the point of injury (which may occur after long periods of sendentary behavior - for example, sitting on a long airplane flight; by a blood state of hypercoagulability (caused for example, by genetic deficiencies or autoimmune disorders).

High altitude has also been known to induce thrombosis [3][4]. Occasionally, abnormalities in coagulation are to blame.

Intravascular coagulation follows, forming a structureless mass of red blood cells, leukocytes, and fibrin.