In the past weeks, we have heart a lot about blood clots in blood vessels (thrombus) and the AstraZeneca vaccine. There have been several reports that the Astrazeneca vaccine might provoke cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST (a rare form of blood clots in the brain). But how do blood clots really form? And how can we treat blood clots? 🔬 Subscribe for more awesome biomedical research: https://bit.ly/2SRMqhC 🔬Tweet me your science questions: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSteinek 0:00-1:15 Introduction 1:15-4:53 How Blood Clots Form 4:53-7:43 CVST & Risk Factors 7:43-9:20 CVST And AstraZeneca 9:20-11:24 CVST Treatments Blood clots form differently depending on if we are in an artery or a vein. If we are in an artery blood clots form by an excess of LDL (low density lipoprotein). LDL starts to migrate into blood vessels and cause an immune response. Then a blood clot might form. In veins, inflammation changes the properties of the vein which attracts coagulation factors. Coagulation factors are protein which control blood clotting. As a consequence a blood clot or thrombus might occur. There are several risk factors which influence the development of blood clots or CVST. Hormonal changes (pregnancy, birth control pill) increase the risk of CVST (central venous sinus thrombosis) and abnormal blood clotting. A lack of exercise, smoking or surgery are other risk factors. Also genetics can influence the risk of getting blood clots or CVST. Here, a specific variant of the F5 gene called factor V leiden is important. Right now, the Astrazeneca vaccine is not seen as a major risk factor of developing CVST. There is a higher proportion of CVST cases in response to getting vaccinated (18 out of 20 000 000 so far) so it is subject of debate whether these rare cases are caused by genetics or an abnormal immune response which act together with the vaccine. Unfortunately, the abnormal blood clotting which is CVST is detrimental. We can try to oxygenate the patient, administer heparin or antithrombin or perform surgeries but the disease is generally very dangerous. For your research: Amoozegar, F., Ronksley, P.E., Sauve, R. and Menon, B.K., 2015. Hormonal contraceptives and cerebral venous thrombosis risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in neurology, 6,p.7. Tchaikovski, Svetlana N., and Jan Rosing. "Mechanisms of estrogen-induced venous thromboembolism." Thrombosis research 126, no. 1 (2010): 5-11. Guenther, G., and A. Arauz. "Cerebral venous thrombosis: a diagnostic and treatment update." Neurología (English Edition) 26, no. 8 (2011): 488-498 . Saha, D.K., Ahsan, A.A., Faruq, M.O., Fatema, K., Ahmed, F., Saha, M. and Islam, R., 2015. Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis: A Case Report. Bangladesh Critical Care Journal, 3(1), pp.39-41. Disclaimer: The patient history in the beginning of the video was derived from news articles and the aforementioned publications. Images: Some pictures were derived from Servier Medical Art by Servier. You can find over 3000 free medical images here: https://smart.servier.com/ Brain by Martin420, CC BY-SA 4.0 Estradiol by Medgirl131, CC BY-SA 4.0 DNA by Joseluissc3, CC BY-SA 4.0 Wound patch by Marco Verch, CC BY 2.0 Music: Intro: Title: Danse Morialta by Kevin MacLeod (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0) Title: Bread (Prod. by Lukrembo) jazz type beat “marshmallow” Title: Rudolph by Lukrembro Title: Art of Silence by Uniq Title: Outside Visitors, The Illstrumentalist About Clemens Steinek: CLEMENS STEINEK is a PhD student/youtuber (LifeLabLearner) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.