Embolism

(em’-bo-lizm). De[continues p50] tachment of a clot formed in a vein by thrombosis, and its subsequent conveyance by the blood stream to the heart. If the clot, or embolus, is large enough to block completely any of the valvular orifices of the right side of the heart, sudden death is the result: if small enough to pa through the heart, the embolus is arrested somewhere in the pulmonary artery or in one of its subdivisions, giving rise to an infarct of the lung, with symptoms of intense sudden pain in the chest, coughing of blood, and great distre . In certain cases of valvular disease of the heart, pieces of the affected valve break off and are carried away in the blood stream. When such an embolus reaches an artery too small for it, an embolism results, with symptoms according to the organ affected. Embolism of an artery of the brain may result in immediate death or in hemiplegia, paralysis, etc. — s. 50 —