Make it Simple
Use medical terminology word-building skills to help you understand the terms coagulation, anticoagulation, and hemostasis. First, the word coagulation in medicine means the clotting of blood, and the prefix “anti-” means against. Thus coagulation means blood clotting, and anticoagulation signifies a substance that inhibits clotting. You will see more terms in this chapter with “anti-” as a prefix. Hemostasis can be broken down into heme, the Greek word for blood, and stasis, which means “to halt,” so hemostasis means to halt or arrest the flow of blood.
Quick QuestionWhat is the definition of the term systemic? For your answer, refer to Drug Administration Routes in Chapter 1.
Physiology of Clot Formation
The body’s coagulation mechanism prevents blood loss due to trauma or damage to small blood vessels. (However, trauma to large blood vessels requires surgical intervention—thermal or mechanical hemostasis—to control blood loss.) Damage to a small blood vessel results in spasm and tissue damage, which causes a series of reactions. These reactions produce a protein called fibrin. Fibrin sticks to damaged blood vessels, which causes a platelet plug to form; this leads to coagulation. In fact, blood clot formation is a cascade of events occurring in three basic stages. See Figure 9-1 for a simplified version of this clotting cascade.
< div class='tao-gold-member'>
Only gold members can continue reading. Log In or Register to continue
