Hypercoagulability

Hypercoagulability is when the bloodcoagulates(forms "clots") within the blood vessels. The condition of hypercoagulability is sometimes called a hypercoagulable state. The resultant thrombosismay lead to stroke, myocardial infarction(heart attack), tissue ischemia, and organ failure.

Hypercoagulability is often inherited, caused by a defect in one of the many blood proteinsinvolved in the clot-forming process. It may also be due to an increase in plateletsor as a reaction to the blood-thinning drug heparin.

For a list of diseases that may cause hypercoagulability, see the list under "disorders predisposing to thrombosis" in the article about Coagulation.

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercoagulability Wikipedia article Hypercoagulability.