deep vein thrombosis
noun
variants:
or deep-vein thrombosis
Medical Definition of deep vein thrombosis
: a condition marked by the formation of a thrombus within a deep vein (as of the leg or pelvis) that may be asymptomatic or be accompanied by symptoms (as swelling and pain) and that is potentially life threatening if dislodgment of the thrombus results in pulmonary embolism
Postsurgical risk of deep vein thrombosis—dangerous blood clots that form in the legs and then travel to the lungs—is higher than normal.— Janine S. Pouliot, Prevention, August 2004
—abbreviation DVT