| Term |
Definition |
| A priori |
Made before or without exam; not supported by factual study. |
| Adjuvant therapy |
Assisting in the amelioration or cure of disease. |
| Anticoagulation |
Process of hindering the clotting of blood especially by treatment with an anticoagulant. |
| Antithrombotic |
Used against or tending to prevent thrombosis (clotting). |
| Coagulation |
Clotting. |
| Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) |
Condition marked by the formation of a thrombus within a deep vein (as of the leg or pelvis) that may be asymptomatic or be accompanied by symptoms (as swelling and pain) and that is potentially life threatening if dislodgment of the thrombus results in pulmonary embolism. |
| Fondaparinux |
Anticoagulant medication. |
| Dalteparin |
Anticoagulant medication. |
| Tinzaparin |
Anticoagulant medication. |
| Hemostatic system |
System that shortens the clotting time of blood and stops bleeding. |
| Heparin |
Enzyme occurring especially in the liver and lungs that prolongs the clotting time of blood by preventing the formation of fibrin. 2 forms of heparin that are used as anticoagulant medications are: unfractionated heparin (UFH) and low molecular weight heparins (LMWH). |
| Heterogeneity |
Quality or state of being heterogeneous, i.e. incongruous. Statistical technique to check whether study results are consistent. |
| Hypercoagulable state |
State of excessive affinity to clotting. |
| Impedance plethysmography |
Technique that measures the change in blood volume (venous blood volume as well as the pulsation of the arteries) for a specific body segment. |
| Kappa statistic |
Measure of degree of nonrandom agreement between observers, measurements of a specific categorical variable, or both. |
| Metastasis |
Spread of a cancer cells from the initial or primary site of disease to another part of the body. |
| Parenteral nutrition |
Practice of feeding a person intravenously, circumventing the gastrointestinal tract. |
| Pulmonary embolism (PE) |
Embolism of a pulmonary artery or 1 of its branches that is produced by foreign matter and most often a blood clot originating in a vein of the leg or pelvis and that is marked by labored breathing, chest pain, fainting, rapid heart rate, cyanosis, shock, and sometimes death. |
| Thrombocytopenia |
Persistent decrease in the number of blood platelets that is often associated with hemorrhagic conditions. |
| Thrombosis |
Formation or presence of a blood clot within a blood vessel. |
| Vitamin K antagonists |
Anticoagulant medications that are used for anticoagulation. Warfarin is a vitamin K antagonist. |
| Warfarin |
Anticoagulant medication that is a vitamin K antagonist that is used for anticoagulation. |
| Ximelagatran |
Anticoagulant medication. |
