Causes of Lung Embolism

Your lungs are two organs that are in the chest which are life-giving since they allow you to breathe. They both process carbon dioxide, along with oxygen, along with our blood. Each lung is filled with alveoli, which are the small air sacs. Your lungs also have capillaries which are the very smallest of our blood vessels, allowing both air and blood which coordinate with each other to help the process of breathing.

If a clot forms from another place in the body, it can break off and lodge itself in the pulmonary area. What happens then is that this embolism blocks up the artery passages. What occurs then is oxygen cannot get in, and neither can carbon dioxide. This is a very dangerous situation since the blood supply needed is decreased greatly. Following this event in the body, lung tissues die.

If there is chest pain and a person is also short of breath, along with coughing, that is a warning to seek help. Other symptoms of this problem are, (1) wheezing, (2) the pulse is weak, (3) cyanosis, which is a bluish color to the skin, (4) leg swelling, (5) the heartbeat is not stable, and (6) fainting.

There are a few likely causes of pulmonary embolism occuring. One of which is a tumor blocking the way in the system, and the another cause can be air bubbles in an injection. That is why you see nurses tap the syringes before injecting a patient. If air bubbles are inside, this can harm a person a great deal, and even be lethal. A lot of times too, deep vein thrombosis is the cause of pulmonary embolism since this is a chain of clots that are blocking the way of arteries.

People that are on bedrest or immobile carry a higher risk of getting blood clots, and as a result, these clots can break off and lodge into the pulmonary area. Heart disease and hypertension play a higher role in putting you at higher risk for blood clotting as well as smoking or overweight problems. People that are terribly overweight have a high risk since blood flow has a harder time traveling through the body, and clots can easily form, break off, and park themselves right into the lung area.

Since pulmonary embolism is life-threatening, left not recognized, it can cause immediate death if it strikes.

To find a pulmonary embolism is not easy. Special tests will have to be done to see internal structures. One of these tests can be a pulmonary angiogram. This test clearly shows blood flowing in the arteries of the lungs. This test is done when all other tests fail to make a correct diagnosis.

Treatment focuses on blood thinning medications like Coumadin to dissolve clots. You must be under a doctor's care very often whenon this medication.