By now you've seen the reports about Vice President Dick Cheney’s blood clot in his calf – a clot known as DVT - Deep Vein Thromboses.

Doctors say Cheney is more at risk because he's had heart attacks and is older, overweight and has spent long hours sitting immobile while traveling.  But what may surprise you is that this condition is very common, and can affect many of us who have none of the same risk factors.

“This is a disease state that can come up anytime - even with presumably healthy people,” said Dr. Steven Deitelzweig of Ochsner’s vascular medicine department.  

A major risk factor for DVT is being in the hospital for a medical or surgical condition.

“If you look at all patients who die in hospitals, one in 10 of them who die in our hospitals in the U.S. is from a blood clot, from an embolus, so it's a very common problem,” said Deitelzweig. “There are two million cases a year of DVT in the United States alone and at least half of those people go on to have a pulmonary embolus.”

Deitelzweig explained that an embolus occurs when a piece of the clot in your leg breaks off and gets stuck in your lungs. It’s a condition that he says can be deadly.

“In the event that you have to be admitted to the hospital and have one of these disease states that puts you at risk, you should ask your physician what you're doing to prevent a blood clot from developing,” he explained. “We do have excellent strategies that will prevent it over 90 percent of the time, and that involves some form of a heparin - a blood thinner - that would be one shot once a day.”

While it's more common for deep vein thromboses to happen to older people who have had a recent hospital stay, it can happen to pregnant women who are just in their 20s, so you should report to your obstetrician  if you have pain redness or swelling in your lower extremities or if you get chest pains and shortness of breath.

Usually though, there are no warning signs or symptoms. However, a lot of conditions, in combination, can put you at higher risk. They include: cancer, heart failure, stroke, getting older, being overweight, getting a serious infection, having varicose veins, being on the birth control pill, having major surgery or trauma to the lower body like hip or knee replacement surgery.  And an inherited blood clotting disorder that you might not know that you have.

Even with no risk factors, long times of immobility, like a plane ride, can be a problem.

“The recommendations for people who are having extensive travel is to drink a lot of fluids,” said Deitelzweig. “That would be water and no alcohol, because alcohol can dehydrate you. And, you want to get up and ambulate - walk every hour or so on the plane.”

Finally, doctors say that while taking a baby aspirin daily can help prevent heart attacks, strokes and artery clots in the leg, it doesn’t help DVT conditions.