What is a Pulmonary Embolism
Pulmonary embolism describes an obstruction of the pulmonary artery, or one of it’s branches, by a clot, usually derived from a thrombosis somewhere in the leg veins.
Large embolisms result in acute heart failure or sudden death. Smaller ones can cause death of sections of lung tissue, pleurisy of coughing up blood.
Research
A disordered MTHFR gene can lead to high homocysteine, which in turn negatively effect the health of blood vessels and can lead to an increased chance of developing a blood clot. Therefore, Bansal (2014) examined MTHFR mutation and its impact on the risk of developing Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) or a Pulmonary Embolism (PE). Of the small group of patients with DVT, PE or high homocysteine that the author studied, 74% of them were found to be positive for a MTHFR mutation. 5 had the C677T mutation, 4 compound heterozygous (both the C677T & the A1298C), and 11 the A1298C.
