Pulmonary Embolism - Prevention
Daily use of anticoagulant medicines may help prevent recurring pulmonary embolism by stopping new blood clots from forming and stopping existing clots from growing.
The risk of forming another blood clot is highest in the weeks after the first episode of pulmonary embolism. This risk decreases over time. But the risk remains high for months and sometimes years, depending upon what caused the pulmonary embolism. People with recurrent blood clots and/or pulmonary embolism may have to take anticoagulants daily for the rest of their lives. Anticoagulant medicines also are often used for people who are not active due to illness or injury, or people who are having surgery on the legs, hips, belly, or brain.
Outdoor Pollution and Lung Function Effects
In 1996, the city of Atlanta took dramatic steps to improve the city's air quality for the summer Olympics. In the process, it showed how reducing air pollution can improve lung function. What city officials did -- switching to rapid transit and buses that ran on natural gas instead of diesel -- decreased asthma attacks by up to 44% in children and ozone concentrations by 28%, the CDC reported in a study in 2001 in The Journal of the American Medical Association. "It seemed easier to breathe,"...
Read the Outdoor Pollution and Lung Function Effects article > >
Other preventive methods may also be used, such as:
- Getting you moving shortly after surgery.
- Wearing compression stockings to help prevent leg deep vein thrombosis if you are at increased risk for this condition.
Learn about preventing blood clots from travel. You are at higher risk for blood clots when you are traveling because of long periods of inactivity.
If you are already at high risk for pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis, talk to your doctor before taking a long flight or car trip. Ask if you need to take any special precautions to prevent blood clots during travel.
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