AFRO-NETS> Olikoye Ransome-Kuti died from complications of Deep Vein Thrombosis

[A Odutola <chpss_abo@yahoo.com>]

Olikoye Ransome-Kuti died from complications of Deep Vein Thrombosis
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Datelinehealth-Africa News service
June 6, 2003
 
Staff Reporter
 
Lagos, Nigeria. It has now been authoritatively confirmed that 
Olikoye Ransome Kuti, Nigeria?s well regarded paediatrician, and 
apostle of primary healthcare and prevention died from complications 
of deep vein thrombosis.
 
Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, brother of the paediatrician, a medical doctor 
and human rights activist made this fact known in a press briefing 
monitored on Channels Television in Lagos last night. 
 
Beko disclosed that autopsy conducted by British coroners confirmed 
that Olikoye died from complications of deep vein thrombosis.
 
It will be recalled that Olikoye died in his sleep at the Academy Ho-
tel in central London on Sunday night June 1, 2003. He arrived London 
by air for a meeting of the World Health Organisation
 
Acccording to Beko, Olikoye would be buried in Lagos on Friday, June 
20 after a funeral service. A wake would also be held in his honour 
at his Lekki residence on Thursday evening. 
 
What is deep vein thrombosis?
----------------------------- 
 
Deep vein thrombosis, commonly referred to as DVT, is a disease of 
the circulation. It occurs most often in people who have not been 
able to exercise normally. Air travelers in economy class are now in-
creasingly being recognized as a particularly vulnerable group. A 
French study has shown that journeys more than five hours long by 
car, plane or train increase the risk of DVT fourfold. 
 
There is particular risk with air travel because of the combination 
of inactivity and dehydration, which makes the blood stickier. 
 
A recent study in The Lancet showed that as many as one in ten pas-
sengers could suffer DVT unless they wore the special compression 
stockings.
 
Blood passing through the deepest veins in the calf or thigh flows 
relatively slowly; when a DVT occurs it moves so slowly that it forms 
a solid clot, which becomes wedged in the vein. This clot may dis-
lodge from the veins of the leg into the circulation and lodge into 
the vessels of the lungs and other vital organs. 
 
What are the symptoms? 
----------------------
 
Quite often there are no symptoms at all. Where they do exist, there 
may be pain or tenderness in the leg and raised skin temperature 
around the area. Sudden swelling in one leg may be the first sign. 
Occasionally some of the surface veins are more visible through the 
skin. There may also be pain on flexing the foot upwards. 
 
How dangerous is it? 
--------------------
 
DVTs themselves are not life-threatening but they are associated with 
complications which can be fatal. The most common serious complica-
tion is a pulmonary embolism, which occurs in between one in three 
and one in four cases of DVT. A piece of the clot lodged in the leg 
vein breaks off and travels through the body to the lung, where it 
becomes lodged again causing severe breathing difficulties. Un-
treated, up to one in ten people who suffer a pulmonary embolism die 
as a result. 
 
Can DVT be prevented? 
---------------------
 
People who have already had a DVT are more at risk of going on to de-
velop another one. 
 
Taking drug-thinning drugs such as aspirin is one way to cut the risk 
of developing a clot. Taking a low dose of aspirin before a long 
flight, for example, may reduce risk as does walking around in the 
cabin. Foot exercises while sitting down - rotating the ankles and 
wiggling the toes - prevents the blood pooling in the feet and then 
struggling to climb up through the veins. 
 
Wearing compression stockings is also be advised for those at risk of 
developing a DVT. 
 
Special foot cushions have been developed so passengers can exercise 
while sitting at their seats.
 
 
More general DVT resources are available at:
* American Public Health Association: 
  http://www.apha.org/news/press/2003/dvt.htm 
* BBC News Medical Notes:
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/medical_notes/c-d/986364.stm
 
* BUPA Fact sheet on DVT:
  http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/mosby_factsheets/Deep_Vein_Thrombosis.html
 
* Medline Plus Health Information:
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/thrombophlebitis.html
* Yahoo Health:
  http://health.yahoo.com/health/centers/vital_signs/104.html
 
--
Copyright © 2003. Datelinehealth-Africa Inc. All rights reserved. 
Permission is herewith given to re-use or re-distribute for non-
commercial purposes with due credit given as to source.
 
--
A. Odutola
Centre for Health Policy & Strategic Studies (CHPSS)
Lagos, Nigeria
mailto:chpss_abo@yahoo.com
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