# Coagulation --- **Coagulation** is when the [[blood]] is thickened into a gel in order to stop loosing too much of it, Making a [[thrombus|clot]] Generally a good thing, as it is critical in hemostasis, or when you stop bleeding after an injury. >[!bug] Note incomplete >Hi! Chromatic here. If you've come to this note or section and it's disappointingly empty or unreadably messy, sorry! This is a placeholder note and/or my "raw" class notes. Technically every note in this vault is a work in progress, but I'm aware that this one is particularly rough. I'll probably get to it one day. Needs [[vitamin K]]. Enables the liver to synthesize 4 of the 13 factors (2, 7, 9, 10) ![[clot.png]] ## Hemostasis **Hemostasis** is the cessation of bleeding from damaged [[blood vessels]] Vascular spasm platelet plug **coagulation** Intrinsic factors + extrinsic factors come together to make the **common pathway**. This makes **prothrombin activator**. This converts Prothrobin to Thrombin, which converts Fibrinogen to fibrin.A (Factors 1-13) ## Clotting Cascade ![[clotting cascade.png]] ## The Common Pathway Coagulation can be activated by either **intrinsic factors** (with components that exist within the blood stream) or **extrinsic factors** (associated with tissue damage trauma), and sometimes a combination of both. Either way, they lead to the activation of the **common pathway**. The common pathway activates **prothrombin** and turns it into **thrombin**. Thrombin activates the [[plasma|plasma protein]] fibrinogen and turns it into fibrin. Fibrin is long and stringy and binds together the blood cells. ```mermaid graph LR A[intrinsic pathway] --> C[common pathway] B[extrinsic pathway] --> C C --> D[prothrombin activator] D -.-> E[fibrin] ``` [[calcium]] is needed on both the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways ## Problems with Coagulation - clotting too much - This can lead to [[thrombus]] in a blood vessel, where it very much doesn't belong and can break off and cause havoc - [[coagulopathy]] or not clotting enough - such as bleeding disorders like [[hemophilia]], which can lead to excessive blood loss, which is bad news. ___