Disorders of the Veins and ArteriesPathophysiology of Chronic Venous Insufficiency and Deep Venous Thrombosis

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) pathophysiology is either the obstruction or reflux of venous blood flow (Gujja, Wiley, & Krishnan, 2014). The perforating veins valve normally functions by preventing the reflux of blood from the deep veins into the superficial veins. CVI occurs when there is venous hypertension that is caused by incompetent valves. Venous blood will escape from its normal antegrade flow path and it refluxes backward into the veins of an already congested leg. After prolonged standing, the individual's veins will be completely filled and the venous valves will be flat open. This results in a high hydrostatic venous pressure due to the unbroken column of fluid that is extending from the head to the foot. The failed valves will cause the column of standing blood in the vein to remain high even during ambulation. Hydrostatic pressure will increase during and immediately after ambulation, which results in venous congestion.

Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) occurs when there are two of the Virchow's triad present in a patient. The triad consists of venous...

This triad will cause inflammation of the vein walls, which would eventually lead to thrombus formation. In response to the inflammation, venous thrombi are attached to the vein wall and they contain tail like attachment made of white blood cells, red blood cells, and fibrin. It is possible for the tail to grow or spread in the direction of blood flow as the layers of clot are formed over time. This is critical since some of the blood clots might break off, travel in the blood stream and they end up blocking other veins.
Venous thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot in a vein. While arterial thrombosis is the development of a blood clot in an artery.

Impact of Smoking on The Pathophysiology of CVI and DVT

A smoker is more likely to suffer from DVT since smoking will make the blood cells stickier than they normally should and this results in them attaching to other blood cells resulting in clots. Smoking also alters fibrinolysis and this leads to blood clots not being destroyed normally. This increases the formation of blood clots. Smoking also harms the lining of the blood vessels. When the…