What is the difference in a thrombus and an embolus? They both have one thing in common, they are both usually blood clots; but, the thrombus is stationary such as a deep vein thrombus in the thigh or a popliteal thrombus behind the knee.
An embolus is a thrombus that has moved from one place to another. You might hear such medical slang as, "he’s thrown a PE". This translates into a thrombus moving from one location to a lung; thus, the "PE" or pulmonary
embolism.
A clot can also form in the heart itself with mitral valve regurgitation, or atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is where the top part of the heart; the smaller chambers called the atrium begin to quiver rather than pump effectively. Blood that isn’t moving tends to congeal, forming clots. These atrial clots can migrate to the ventricles where they can be "thrown" to another part of the body, such as the brain, causing a stroke. Mitral valve regurgitation occurs when the atrium finishes pumping blood to the ventricle. The mitral valve is supposed to close tightly in order to prevent contraction of the ventricle from pushing blood back into the filling atrium. If the mitral valve has a slight leak, blood can be forced back into the atrium. This problem can be repaired with surgery.
A similar situation can result with congestive heart failure in an advanced condition. This situation causes the ventricles to empty ineffectively; leaving some residual blood that can clot and go to another part of the body; or, the heart itself. The heart is fed by vessels that come off the aorta. As the heart pumps, some of the blood goes to vessels such as the anterior descending coronary artery. If a clot winds up in one of these arteries that feed the heart, a "heart attack" can occur, depriving certain portions of the heart of oxygen and nutrients. You may hear this referred to as a myocardial infarction or coronary occlusion. These situations are very dangerous, but not necessarily deadly. There are many variables involved; primarily, if the clot can be broken up or the amount of muscle damage that occurs. The first two weeks of a myocardial infarction are critical times.
What is the difference in a thrombus and an embolus? They both have one thing in common, they are both usually blood clots; but, the thrombus is stationary such as a deep vein thrombus in the thigh or a popliteal thrombus behind the knee.
An embolus is a thrombus that has moved from one place to another. You might hear such medical slang as, "he’s thrown a PE". This translates into a thrombus moving from one location to a lung; thus, the "PE" or pulmonary
embolism.
A clot can also form in the heart itself with mitral valve regurgitation, or atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is where the top part of the heart; the smaller chambers called the atrium begin to quiver rather than pump effectively. Blood that isn’t moving tends to congeal, forming clots. These atrial clots can migrate to the ventricles where they can be "thrown" to another part of the body, such as the brain, causing a stroke. Mitral valve regurgitation occurs when the atrium finishes pumping blood to the ventricle. The mitral valve is supposed to close tightly in order to prevent contraction of the ventricle from pushing blood back into the filling atrium. If the mitral valve has a slight leak, blood can be forced back into the atrium. This problem can be repaired with surgery.
A similar situation can result with congestive heart failure in an advanced condition. This situation causes the ventricles to empty ineffectively; leaving some residual blood that can clot and go to another part of the body; or, the heart itself. The heart is fed by vessels that come off the aorta. As the heart pumps, some of the blood goes to vessels such as the anterior descending coronary artery. If a clot winds up in one of these arteries that feed the heart, a "heart attack" can occur, depriving certain portions of the heart of oxygen and nutrients. You may hear this referred to as a myocardial infarction or coronary occlusion. These situations are very dangerous, but not necessarily deadly. There are many variables involved; primarily, if the clot can be broken up or the amount of muscle damage that occurs. The first two weeks of a myocardial infarction are critical times.
References :
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/610683/what_is_the_difference_between_a_thrombus.html
thrombosis forms at the blockage point within a blood vessel and is not carried from somewhere else, embolism occurs when an object migrates from one part of the body (through circulation) and causes a blockage (occlusion) of a blood vessel in another part of the body.
References :
EMT
An embolism occurs when an object (or clot,) travels from one part of the body (through circulation,) and causes a blockage in another part of the body.
A thrombosis is a blood clot in a vessel, (the clot itself is called a thrombus,) it stays where it forms and is not carried from someplace else.
References :
They are both occlusions or clots. They both begin as a thrombus. However, an embolus "grows" in one place and then gets dislodged and "stuck" somewhere else. For example, if you have a clot in your leg, it is a thrombus, possibly a DVT to be exact (deep vein thrombosis). If it gets knocked loose and then gets stuck somewhere else, it is now called an "embolus". If it were to get stuck in your lungs for instance, that DVT will become an PE (pulmonary embolism) which is a life-threatening immediate medical emergency. DVT’s actually often become PE’s, which is why paramedics must be very careful treating patients with "leg pains", especially truck drivers and other sedentary individuals who are at high risk for DVT, for fear that they could accidentally turn the DVT into a PE and accidentally kill their patient as a result.
Last example — a deadly blood clot in your heart. If it grew in your heart, and killed you from that location without ever moving, then you died of a cardiac thrombus. If it grew somewhere else in your body, and got stuck in your heart, then you died of a cardiac embolus. It is usually, but not always, possible to tell the difference. Same thing in the brain - you could have a clot in your brain that gives you a massive stroke - it grew in the brain and stayed there, so it is a thrombus. But, if it grew somewhere else, got dislodged, and then stuck in your brain later, it is an embolus.
References :
Embolus: Solid body or air bubble transported in the blood circulation. Embolism: Obstruction of a blood vessel by the impaction of a solid body (e.g., thrombi, fat globules, tumor cells) or an air bubble.
Thrombus: An intra-vascular blood clot.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embolus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrombus
Pocket Medical Dictionary by Nancy Roper.