SATURDAY, June 9 (HealthDay News) -- Organizers have expanded and updated a free national screening program to assess Americans' risk for dangerous blood clots in the legs that can travel to the heart and lungs.
The National Venous Screening Program has grown from 17 to 158 centers in 43 states and is expected to screen and educate an estimated 4,000 people about venous disease. The program, now in its second year, is administered by the American Venous Forum.
Details about the program were to be presented in Baltimore on June 9 at the annual meeting of the Society for Vascular Surgery.
"The two main reasons people came to be screened were because it was free or they indicated that they had varicose veins," Dr. Robert B. McLafferty, professor, division of surgery, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, said in a prepared statement.
"When assessing the risk of developing a dangerous blood clot in the leg if a person was put in the appropriate conducive situation: 8 percent were at low risk; 35 percent, moderate risk; 33 percent, high risk; and 24 percent, very high risk," he said.
People with a high or very high risk are most likely to develop blood clots that can travel to the heart and lungs.
"By educating people about their potential risk, we empower them to impart this information to their physician who can then prescribe certain prophylactic measures to prevent potential death and serious disability," McLafferty said.
More information
The Society of Interventional Radiology has more about vascular diseases.
-- Robert Preidt
SOURCE: Society for Vascular Surgery, news release, June 9, 2007
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