Alterations in blood flow: immobilization (after surgery, long-haul flight), injury, pregnancy (also procoagulant), obesity (also procoagulant), cancer (also procoagulant)
Factors in the vessel wall: surgery, catheterizations causing direct injury ("endothelial injury")
Factors affecting the properties of the blood (procoagulant state):
Estrogen-containing medication (transgender hormone therapy, menopausal hormone therapy and hormonal contraceptives)
Genetic thrombophilia (factor V Leiden, prothrombin mutation G20210A, protein C deficiency, protein S deficiency, antithrombin deficiency, hyperhomocysteinemia and plasminogen/fibrinolysis disorders)
Acquired thrombophilia (antiphospholipid syndrome, nephrotic syndrome, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria)
Cancer (due to secretion of pro-coagulants)Although most pulmonary embolisms are the result of proximal leg deep vein thrombosis (DVTs), there are still many other risk factors that can also result in a pulmonary embolism. Risk factors include:
Varicose veins caused by vascular damage
Pulmonary hypertension
Diabetes
Traumatic hip fractures that immobilize the patient
Joint fixation (primarily in the legs)

Underlying causes
After a first PE, the search for secondary causes is usually brief. Only when a second PE occurs, and especially when this happens while still under anticoagulant therapy, a further search for underlying conditions is undertaken. This will include testing ("thrombophilia screen") for Factor V Leiden mutation, antiphospholipid antibodies, protein C and S and antithrombin levels, and later prothrombin mutation, MTHFR mutation, Factor VIII concentration and rarer inherited coagulation abnormalities. Diagnosis
To diagnose a pulmonary embolism, a review of clinical criteria to determine the need for testing is recommended.
There is some evidence that immobilization with the wrist in dorsiflexion as opposed to palmarflexion results in less redisplacement and better functional status. Significant angulation and deformity may require an open reduction and internal fixation or external fixation. The volar forearm splint is best for temporary immobilization of forearm, wrist and hand fractures, including Colles fracture. There are several established instability criteria:
dorsal tilt >20°,
comminuted fracture,
abruption of the ulnar styloid process,
intraarticular displacement >1mm,
loss of radial height >2mm. A higher amount of instability criteria increases the likelihood of operative treatment. Treatment modalities differ in the elderly.Repeat Xrays are recommended at one, two, and six weeks to verify proper healing. Prognosis
Recovery time depends on the degree of bone displacement, the number of bone fragments, whether or not the break is "intra-articular" (involves the wrist joint), as well as the persons age, gender, and medical history, and may range from two months to a year or more for complete recovery. Epidemiology
Colles fractures occur in all age groups, although certain patterns follow an age distribution. In the elderly, because of the weaker cortex, the fracture is more often extra-articular. Younger individuals tend to require a higher energy force to cause the fracture and tend to have more complex intra-articular fractures. In children with open epiphyses, an equivalent fracture is the "epiphyseal slip", as can be seen in other joints, such as a slipped capital femoral epiphysis in the hip. This is a Salter I or II fracture with the deforming forces directed through the weaker epiphyseal plate.