What it means
A model of why clots form, named after Rudolf Virchow, a German pathologist. Stasis (slow or pooled blood) comes from bed rest, long travel, paralysis or heart failure. Vessel wall injury comes from surgery, trauma or IV lines. Hypercoagulability comes from pregnancy, estrogen drugs, cancer, dehydration, smoking or inherited clotting disorders. The more of the three a client has, the higher the risk of deep vein thrombosisDEEP VAYN throm-BOH-sisA blood clot in a deep vein, most often in the leg or pelvis.thromb/o clot-osis conditionFull entry .
For the nurse
Prevention targets all three: early walking, leg exercises and compression devices against stasis; careful IV care; hydration and prescribed anticoagulants.
Remember it
SHE clots: Stasis, Hypercoagulability, Endothelial (vessel wall) injury.
At a glance
| Also written | Virchow's triad |
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Related terms
deep vein thrombosis
A blood clot in a deep vein, most often in the leg or pelvis.
thrombosis
The forming of a blood clot (a thrombus) inside a blood vessel or the heart.
pulmonary embolism
A blockage of an artery in the lungs, usually by a blood clot that has traveled there from elsewhere in the body.
Homans sign
Pain in the calf when the foot is bent sharply upward with the knee straight.