Hematologist's Monologue: TO CLOT, OR NOT TO CLOT

WORDPLAY post #184

SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio (registered pseudonym) and Dr. GH, July 2019. Thoughts about blood-clotting disorders and their treatment have been incited by current health issues affecting family and friends. 
Many of today's verses are also under review at OEDILF.com, an online humor dictionary that has accumulated over 100,000 carefully edited limericks.  Links to other medically-related posts here at "Edifying Nonsense" are given at the bottom of this post.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

DETAILED STATEMENT

Authors' Note: The most common complication of internal bleeding in hemophilic patients is hemarthrosis, bleeding into joints, that may be unprovoked, yet result in significant disability.

Earlier versions of replacement therapy to provide for missing blood proteins with human blood-bank products has been discussed previously. Current treatment involves a genetically engineered  material derived from hamster cells, superior in not provoking antibodies that limit its effectiveness.  

Learn more about hemophilia and its current treatment with hamster-derived biosynthetic proteins at Wikipedia.

Authors' Note:

stasis: an absence of flow, or markedly reduced flow

deep venous thrombosis (DVT): a condition in which clots form in the deep veins, usually of the calves; the disorder often produces symptoms, but may be silent

The above verse conjures studies of factors in causation of DVT more than a century ago by Rudolf Virchow (FEER-koh), the famed German pathologist, that eventually resulted in the concept 'Virchow's triad'. The modern triad includes the elements of venous stasis, increased coagulability of the blood, and damage to the local endothelium (lining of the blood vessels).

 

Authors' Note: Atrial fib, also abbreviated to a-fib or AF, is medical jargon for atrial fibrillation. Causes for AF include various heart and lung conditions, particularly valvular heart disease, but half of cases occur spontaneously.

AF may be symptomatic or not, and may be intermittent rather than sustained, particularly in its earlier phase. In any case, it is associated with the formation of clots in the atria of the heart, leading to an increased risk of brain stroke, caused by emboli.

To reduce the risk of stroke, patients with AF may be asked to take blood thinners for life. 

Learn more about atrial fibrillation and its treatment at Wikipedia.

OVERLAPPING THEMES

AND, HERE'S A LIST OF LINKS to collections of intriguing verses on other medical/dental topics that can now be found on various posts including:

Patients and their Maladies (parts #1, #2 and #3)

The Bottom Line of Medical Humour

Funny Bones (parts #1 and #2),
Doctors and their Practices (part #1 and #2)

To Clot or Not to Clot

The Scopes of Modern Medicine

Handbook of Medical Testing Statistics

Pandemic Verses

Poetry of Healthcare

STD Poetry

Diagnostic Imaging (selected topics)

Dental Feelings

and in 'brief sagas' including:

Drug Development

Radiation Exposure

Methylated Spirits

The Gastro-Esophageal Junction

Workplace Pollution

Food Intolerance

Fluoridation

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS:

If you want to resume daily titillations on our blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 through 2022. (There are now over 900 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)