Medical Disclaimer
The information on this page is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
🚨Emergency? If you have severe symptoms, difficulty breathing, or think it's an emergency, call 000 immediately.
Pulmonary Embolism (Blood Clot in Lung)
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blood clot that travels from the leg veins (DVT) to the lungs, blocking blood flow and causing sudden shortness of breath, chest pain, rapid heart rate, and potentially death - it's a serious complication after major orthopaedic surgery (hip or knee replacement, spine surgery, pelvis or femur fractures) occurring in 1-3% of patients despite preventive blood thinners, requiring immediate emergency treatment with anticoagulation or clot-dissolving therapy.
📖What is Pulmonary Embolism (Blood Clot in Lung)?
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blood clot that travels from the leg veins (DVT) to the lungs, blocking blood flow and causing sudden shortness of breath, chest pain, rapid heart rate, and potentially death - it's a serious complication after major orthopaedic surgery (hip or knee replacement, spine surgery, pelvis or femur fractures) occurring in 1-3% of patients despite preventive blood thinners, requiring immediate emergency treatment with anticoagulation or clot-dissolving therapy.
🔬What Causes It?
- Blood clot from leg veins (DVT) breaks off and travels to lungs (90% of PEs originate from leg deep veins)
- Major orthopaedic surgery creating high clot risk (hip or knee replacement, hip fracture surgery, spine surgery, pelvis fractures—surgery causes blood stasis, vessel injury, hypercoagulability)
- Prolonged immobility after injury or surgery (lying in bed, not moving legs allows blood to pool and clot)
- Cancer, pregnancy, long flights, genetic clotting disorders (less common in orthopaedic patients than surgery-related PE)
⚠️Risk Factors
You may be at higher risk if:
- Recent major orthopaedic surgery (hip/knee replacement highest risk 1-3%, hip fracture surgery, spine surgery, pelvis/femur fractures)
- Immobility (bedbound after surgery or injury, prolonged sitting)
- Previous DVT or PE (15-25% recurrence risk even with prophylaxis)
- Active cancer (chemotherapy increases clotting)
- Obesity (BMI more than 30 doubles PE risk)
- Smoking (damages blood vessels, increases clotting)
- Age over 60 years (clotting risk increases with age)
- Genetic clotting disorders (Factor V Leiden, prothrombin mutation—5-8% population)
🛡️Prevention
- ✓Prophylactic anticoagulation after high-risk surgery (enoxaparin injections or rivaroxaban tablets for 10-35 days post-op reduces PE risk from 3-5% to 1-2%)
- ✓Early mobilization after surgery (walking day 1 post-op, ankle pumps, leg exercises in bed—reduces DVT risk 40-60%)
- ✓Mechanical prophylaxis (compression stockings, pneumatic compression devices on calves during surgery and post-op)
- ✓Adequate hydration (dehydration increases blood viscosity and clotting)
- ✓Avoid smoking (damages blood vessels, increases clotting and surgical complications)