What to do if there is blood clot in the calf

It is also common to have blood clots in the calves. This is a common manifestation of deep vein thrombosis in the lower limbs. It poses a great threat to the patient's health. When this type of blood clot occurs, it should be treated in time. There are many treatment methods. The most common one is drug therapy. If drug treatment is not effective, surgery can be used for treatment. In addition, supportive treatment, mechanical treatment, and postural treatment are all common methods.

1. Drug treatment Drug treatment is a common non-surgical treatment method, including thrombolytic therapy, anticoagulant therapy, antiplatelet drugs and vasodilators. (1) Thrombolytic therapy: It is to use drugs with thrombolytic effect to dissolve blood clots, thereby relieving the blockage of the deep veins of the lower limbs and allowing the blood in the deep veins of the lower limbs to flow back smoothly. (2) Anticoagulant therapy: It is the use of drugs with anticoagulant effects to prevent blood clots from continuing to spread and expand. (3) Antiplatelet drugs: mainly used as auxiliary and maintenance treatment after the acute treatment of deep vein thrombosis of the lower limbs. (4) Vasodilators: used to dilate small veins. Just like when the main highway is completely blocked, people will create some irregular paths on both sides of the trunk to solve the road traffic problem. These irregular paths trampled out are equivalent to side branch circulation. After using vasodilator drugs, the small veins are dilated, allowing these dilated small veins to partially or mostly replace the return of the deep veins of the lower limbs.

2. Surgical treatment is rarely used in clinical practice and is only used when the thrombus is large or severe. That is, the blood clots in the deep veins of the lower limbs are removed through surgery. If the deep veins of the lower limbs are already narrowed or occluded, if possible, they can be treated together during the operation. 3. Postural therapy uses the principle of "water flows to lower places" to raise the affected limb, which is beneficial to the return of venous blood in the lower limbs. Let the patient lie in bed with the affected limb elevated (20 to 30 cm above the heart level), or make the elevated affected limb form a 30-degree angle with the bed. Start to get out of bed after 10 days and do some appropriate activities. The amount of activity is controlled by the patient himself, and the patient should not feel tired or just feel tired. 4. Mechanical treatment promotes the return of venous blood in the lower limbs by mechanically squeezing and massaging the affected limb from top to bottom. However, it should not be used within 10 days after the onset of the disease to prevent the thrombus from falling off due to mechanical compression, which could lead to pulmonary embolism and be fatal.