Authors: Scott M Stevens
Publish Date: 2015/01/23
Volume: 39, Issue: 3, Pages: 379-391
Abstract
Though venous thrombosis was described as early as the 13th century 1 elucidation of its pathophysiology is credited to the 19th Century German physician Rudolph Ludwig Karl Virchow 2 Virchow described a framework for understanding thrombotic disease “Virchow’ triad” states that pathologic thrombosis results from vessel injury blood flow stasis and hypercoagulability alone or in combination His inclusion of hypercoagulability was particularly prescient given the limited understanding of the biology of the coagulation system at the time he was writingMore than 150 years of research have confirmed Virchow’s insights and his “triad” still frames modern understanding of thrombotic disease Of the three components of the triad the most remarkable advances have occurred in the understanding of the physiology and pathology of the coagulation system As a more sophisticated biochemical description of the coagulation cascade was advanced disorders related to its
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