Daniel Dodd, Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Collin County, was admitted to the hospital Friday to treat a blood clot in his leg.
Often termed "deep venous thrombosis" such blood clots can quickly kill if it moves up to the lungs, where can form a pulmonary embolism. This condition make headlines every few years when seemingly healthy people collapse after long airplane flights or being in similarly cramped quarters. Vice President Cheney suffered one after a long trip in 2006. NBC correspondent David Bloom died of one in 2003 after spending days inside a tank while covering the invasion of Iraq. The surgeon General estimates that every year, between 350,000 and 600,000 Americans get one of these clots — and at least 100,000 of them die.
If the blood clot is caught early and treated properly, patients do very well with a mortality risk of less than 5 percent. A major goal of treatment is to prevent further abnormal clotting in the body and to avoid complications such as the development of a blood clot in the lungs. Blood clots are treated by administering blood thinners, like Heparin, Coumadin or others such as Lovenox injections. Treatment can depend on many factors such as the size of the clot, but most of the time patients must be on a blood thinner for several months. Contrary to popular belief, blood thinners do not dissolve a clot. They keep new clots from forming and from the clot getting any bigger, but the body actually dissolves the clot itself.
Dodd was expect to remain in the hospital for up to three days.
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