Home > Encyclopedia of Cancer > Hypercoagulation Disorders

Description

Hypercoagulation disorders (or hypercoagulable states or disorders) cause an increased tendency for clotting of the blood. In normal hemostasis (the stoppage of bleeding) clots form at the site of the blood vessel's injury. However, in hypercoagulation disorders the clots can develop in circulating blood. This may put a patient at risk for obstruction of veins and arteries (phlebitis, thrombosis, or thrombophlebitis). The hypercoagulable state and thrombophlebitis is common cases of cancer involving solid tumors such as pancreatic, breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer.

Hypercoagulation disorders can cause clots throughout the body's blood vessels, a condition known as thromboembolic disease. Thromboembolic disease can lead to infarction (death of tissue as a...