Lecture 11: Pathophysiology & Management of Thrombosis
Gerald A Soff MD
Presentation Date:
November 20, 2025
> Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) is common, and the 3rd leading cause of thrombosis-related death.
> Some estimate as many as 900,000 people could be affected (1 to 2 per 1,000) each year in the United States.
> 60,000-100,000 Americans die of VTE.
> Understanding the causes and management of VTE is a core part of Classical Hematology as well as primary care.
Gerald A Soff MD
Chief, Classical Hematology Service
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center,
University of Miami Health System
gas199@Miami.edu
Rudolph Virchow, 10/13/1821-9/5/1902
> Virchow was one of the great minds in the history of medicine.
> He was responsible for a wide range of discoveries and insights.
> Among these was his understanding and description of the factors that lead to thrombosis.
> The first to recognize and describe how venous thrombosis of the lower extremities could embolize and become a pulmonary embolism.
>"The detachment of larger or smaller fragments from the end of the softening thrombus which are carried along by the current of blood and driven into remote vessels. This gives rise to the very frequent process on which I have bestowed the name of Embolia."