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<P>THE TERM “TRAVELLERS THROMBOSIS”, (T.T.), was suggested by the Select
Committee of the House of Lords in 2000 to replace “ECS” (Economy Class
Syndrome). Synonyms used are 'DVT/E', 'VTE' (Venous Thrombo-embolism), Travel
(or Flight) related pulmonary embolism.
<P>
<P>T.T. is NOT a common occurrence - in fact it is extremely rare. Estimates of
its incidence vary from about nil deaths per million on flights of two hours or
less, to 0.1 deaths per million among passengers who fly distances shorter than
7500 Km, to a putative 25 per million among those who fly over 10,000 Km
(Lapostolle et al. New Eng. Jour. Med. 2001; 345: 779-783) - i.e. ONLY about
0.000025% of those who fly 20,000Km ACTUALLY suffer DVT/E signs, symptoms, or
death.
<P>
<P>Lapostolle et al's more remarkable finding and insight was that the SLOPE of
their graph of increasing DVT/E fatalities is exponential.
<P>
<P>Furthermore, Flight Deck and Cabin crew members ARE NOT REPRESENTED in DVT/E
statistics - though they share the same cabin environment as their passengers,
and for much longer periods of their lives : it could therefore seem that
frequently mentioned cabin conditions - the dry air, the reduced oxygen
concentration, and life at high altitude do not seem to be true ‘causative’
factors. Significant differences are that the crew are mostly young, working,
NOT TERRIFIED, nor “PARALYSED by FEAR”, sleep 8 hours daily in horizontal bunks,
and are FORBIDDEN to drink ALCOHOL on their tour of duty - will be proposed as
underlying reasons why they do NOT suffer T.T., and, vice versa, will constitute
the basic reasons why the status and behaviors of SOME passengers lead to their
suffering T.T.
<P>
<P>As previously mentioned these papers will not comment on “hypercoagulability”
as a thrombogenic factor.
<P>
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<P>
<P>INTRODUCTION
<P>Death from Thrombo-embolism after Intercontinental air journeys (from North
to South America) was first reported by Homans in 1954 ; in 1977, Symington and
Stack dubbed equivalent deaths “Economy Class Syndrome”.
<P>
<P>Their Lordships were told in evidence in 2000 that similar deaths occur among
First, Business and Economy Class long-haul Air passengers, as well as Coach,
train and car travellers on equally long (duration) journeys and therefore
suggested “Travellers’ Thrombosis” as a preferable descriptor. </P>
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.travllersthrombosis.co.uk">Travellers
Thrombosis</a>, <a href="http://www.travllersthrombosis.co.uk">Venous
thrombo-embolism</a>, <a href="http://www.travllersthrombosis.co.uk">VTE</a>, <a href="http://www.travllersthrombosis.co.uk">Economy
Class Syndrome</a>, <a href="http://www.travllersthrombosis.co.uk">ECS</a></div>
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