Simplified Clotting

Just like a vital busy highway, which develops cracks and potholes, our vasculature has its own highway department repair crew, the clotting mechanism. You already have a good idea of the things blood does. You know red blood cells deliver oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. And white blood cells fight infection. To reach all 6 trillion cells, blood vessels have to cover a lot of distance. Our vasculature, the highway of our blood is 60,000 miles long. If a giant sink hole suddenly appeared on the interstate all the cars would fall into it. Similarly, if a break occurs, the clotting mechanism plugs the hole to avert blood loss. Like the highway department the clotting system can sometimes do shoddy work, like thrombocytopenia or hemophilia. Or unlike the highway department, the clotting system can sometimes do too good a job like disseminated intravascular coagulation or myocardial infarction.This book explains these processes in simple pictures. By the time you are done you will have a grasp of clotting and the medications to treat problems.