Venous thromboembolism and pregnancy

J Blood Med. 2010:1:9-12. doi: 10.2147/JBM.S8747. Epub 2010 Mar 3.

Abstract

In recent decades, the association between a hypercoagulable state and its causes and adverse pregnancy outcome, in particular recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) has been studied extensively. Although the first studies were focused only on the association between thrombophilia and RPL, subsequent studies underlined also a potential role of antithrombotic treatment to prevent vascular complication such as venous thromboembolism (VTE) during pregnancy. Thromboprophylaxis should be considered also for pregnant subjects carriers of molecular thrombophilia or that previously experienced VTE, in order to prevent VTE during pregnancy, while antithrombotic treatment for VTE should be performed during all pregnant periods.

Keywords: factor V Leiden; recurrent pregnancy loss; thrombophilia; venous thromboembolism.