(HealthDay News) -- Blood clotting is the body's way of preventing excessive bleeding when a blood vessel is injured.
Typically, the body will dissolve the clot after the injury has healed, the American Society of Hematology says.
But occasionally, a clot forms despite no obvious injury to a vessel, or the clot doesn't dissolve on its own. This can pose the dangerous possibility of limiting oxygenated blood to tissues and organs such as the heart or lungs.
Or a clot may impede the flow of deoxygenated blood back to the heart.
The society says factors that can increase the risk of developing a blood clot include: