"was that the 10% have clots, 10% of those extend above the knee,
10% of those break off and 10% of those cause nasty problems?"
slim_slag, from all the 10%s I think you are referring to an
article of Scurr in The Lancet. If so then the situation is not as dire
as you remember. From Scurr's paper, "We conclude that symptomless
DVT might occur in up to 10% of long-haul airline travellers." Note
the adjective "symptomless." The authors write "We accept that
symptomless calf vein thrombosis is probably not a major risk to health."
Citing other research the authors report "Published clinical series
showed that 10-20% of isolated calf vein thromboses extend to more proximal
veins. Pulmonary embolism can arise in about 10% of patients presenting
with isolated calf vein thrombosis." I believe that the work Scurr cites
pertains to symptomatic calf vein thrombosis.
Scurr's 10% figure may be unreliable but so far as I have seen his critics
have not addressed one interesting aspect of the study. Scurr randomized 231
subjects into one group of 116, a second group of 115. Members of both groups
had no DVT risk factors. Of the 116 in the first group, none of whom wore
compression stockings, 12 were diagnosed with symptomless DVT - that's
where the 10% figure comes from. Each member of the second group wore
compression stockings during flight. Not one of them presented any kind
of DVT afterward.
...had he been aware of the evidence available at the material time, he would
not have flown.
I don't know what the legal issues are but there are less drastic measures
listed in the section PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE WHEN TRAVELLING in the link
PaperTiger posted above.
"Money, money and money"
Now that that filthy subject has been brought up, two questions occur.
According to The Scotsman, "the judge decided, in principle, that
the DVT action group should pay the costs of the defendant
airlines - unofficially estimated at £500,000." Isn't that a lot of
money to debate the meaning of "accident"? Also, if the US is the world
leader in litigation, as is so often asserted in PPRuNe, why are the
British and Australian lawyers so far in the lead on this? One would
expect DVT to be a Warsaw-free issue on domestic coast-to-coast
nonstops. Have I missed something going on in the US?