Leader

Thrombophilia in pregnancy

Isobel D Walker¹

¹ Haematology Department, 3rd Floor, Macewen Building, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Castle Street, Glasgow G4 0SF, UK

Correspondence to:
Dr Walker email: idw{at}idwhaem.demon.co.uk

Thrombophilia can be defined as a predisposition to thrombosis. Abnormalities in haemostasis that are associated with clinical thrombophilia include heritable defects, such as mutations in the genes encoding the natural anticoagulants antithrombin, protein C, and protein S, or clotting factors prothrombin and factor V, and acquired defects, such as antiphospholipids. Women with thrombophilic defects have been shown to be at increased risk, not only of pregnancy associated thromboembolism, but also of other vascular complications of pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia and fetal loss. Routine thrombophilia screening of all women attending antenatal clinics is not recommended. Because some thrombophilic defects—for example, type 1 antithrombin deficiency and antiphospholipids—are associated with a high risk of recurrent thrombosis or other pregnancy complications, it is suggested that selected women (those with a personal or confirmed family history of venous thromboembolism or with a history of recurrent fetal loss) are screened for these defects to allow pregnancy management planning.

Key Words: thrombophilia • pregnancy

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Cura, M., Haskal, Z., Lopera, J. (2009). Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology for Budd-Chiari Syndrome. RadioGraphics 29: 669-681 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Menon, K.V. N., Shah, V., Kamath, P. S. (2004). The Budd-Chiari Syndrome. NEJM 350: 578-585 [Full Text]  
• Dossenbach-Glaninger, A., van Trotsenburg, M., Dossenbach, M., Oberkanins, C., Moritz, A., Krugluger, W., Huber, J., Hopmeier, P. (2003). Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 4G/5G Polymorphism and Coagulation Factor XIII Val34Leu Polymorphism: Impaired Fibrinolysis and Early Pregnancy Loss. Clin. Chem. 49: 1081-1086 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Harada, T., Morita, H., Imai, Y., Hayashi, D., Takeda, N., Maemura, K., Yazaki, Y., Nagai, R. (2003). Deficiency of Protein S-Mediated Familial Venous Thrombophilia: A Case Report. ANGIOLOGY 54: 377-381 [Abstract]  
• Kanayama, N., Takahashi, K., Matsuura, T., Sugimura, M., Kobayashi, T., Moniwa, N., Tomita, M., Nakayama, K. (2002). Deficiency in p57Kip2 expression induces preeclampsia-like symptoms in mice. Mol Hum Reprod 8: 1129-1135 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Rahman, T.M., Wendon, J. (2002). Severe hepatic dysfunction in pregnancy. QJM 95: 343-357 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Donohoe, S, Quenby, S, Mackie, I, Panal, G, Farquharson, R, Malia, R, Kingdom, J, Machin, S (2002). Fluctuations in levels of antiphospholipid antibodies and increased coagulation activation markers in normal andheparin-treated antiphospholipid syndrome pregnancies. Lupus 11: 11-20 [Abstract]