HWN Suggests

Blood Clots Do Not Discriminate: Heather’s Story

Can you be too young to experience blood clots? At 22 years old, I wasn’t, and neither are you! I have heard “you are too young” at every medical provider’s office, but blood clots do not discriminate. Trust me, because I’m a two-time survivor of pulmonary embolisms, also known as PEs or blood clots in my lungs. 

I’m 31 years old now, and I work in healthcare business management. I have a wonderful daughter and a supportive, loving husband. I have taken anticoagulants, or blood thinners, for nine years. I take the blood thinner warfarin, so at times it has been a difficult journey managing my therapeutic ranges, required dosing changes, altered dietary choices, and unexplained bruising.

In…

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 Thrombophilia Screen

Thrombophilia screening should be considered in patients with a documented unexplained thrombotic episode or a positive family history

Articles of Interest

Thrombophilias: who to test

Who not to test - just about everyone.

Birth Control And Blood Clots: Women Still Weighing The Risks

NuvaRing is just the latest hormone-based form of birth control to become the focus of scrutiny. All hormonal contraceptives, including birth control pills, increase a woman's risk of blood clots, stroke and heart attack. NuvaRing may be even more likely to cause blood clots than other forms of birth control. "The risk of getting blood clots may be greater with the type of progestin in NuvaRing than with some other progestins in certain low-dose birth control pills," the package safety information states.

Testing for thrombophilia: clinical update

Thrombophilia describes inherited and acquired prothrombotic states which predispose to venous, but not arterial thromboembolism. The heritable states are of limited clinical significance in primary care and while they may underlie a patient’s presentation with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) of uncertain cause, tests infrequently alter management. Testing patients is not without pitfalls: results are only informative if taken in the right patient at an appropriate time, as explained in recent guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The Appropriateness and Cost of Thrombophilia Panel Testing: It’s Complicated

It is understandable that many patients confronted with DVT/PE want to know as much as they can about the condition and whether they should undergo genetic thrombophilia panel testing to determine if they have an inherited tendency to form blood clots.

Thrombophilia and pregnancy

Pregnancy is hypercoagulable state. The field of thrombophilia; the tendency to thrombosis, has been developed rapidly and has been linked to many aspects of pregnancy. It is recently that severe pregnancy complications such as severe preeclampsia intrauterine growth retardation abruptio placentae and stillbirth has been shown to be associated with thrombophilia.

Thrombophilia: the dermatological clinical spectrum

The aim of this article is to review the hypercoagulable states (thrombophilia) most commonly encountered by dermatologists, as well as their cutaneous signs, including livedo racemosa, cutaneous necrosis, digital ischemia and ulcerations, reticulated purpura, leg ulcers, and other skin conditions.

What is Thrombophilia?

Thrombophilias can be defined as a group of inherited or acquired disorders that increase a person’s risk of developing thrombosis (abnormal “blood clotting”) in the veins or arteries.

When Is Testing for Thrombophilia Indicated?

Thrombophilias can be classified into three major categories: deficiency of natural inhibitors of coagulation, abnormal function or elevated level of coagulation factors, and acquired thrombophilias

When Pregnancy Becomes A Sticky Business…

Since more clotting factors are in a woman’s blood during pregnancy, a pregnant woman is six times more likely to develop blood clots, even without this kind of medical history. Also, because the uterus compresses the veins during pregnancy, the blood flow slows down as it moves through the vessels and may lead to blood clots.

Resources

Stop The Clot

Thrombophilia (also known as hypercoagulability) is a predisposition to the development of blood clots. Thrombophilia can be either inherited or acquired during one’s lifetime. Conditions leading to thrombophilia that can be acquired or develop during one’s lifetime include abnormalities of the blood such as too many red blood cells (polycythemia) or too many platelets (thrombocytosis or thrombocythemia), placement of a mechanical heart valve, or the development of abnormal proteins or antibodies. Inherited thrombophilia was first described in the 1960s

NHS

Thrombophilia does not have any symptoms. You only tend to find out you have thrombophilia when you develop a blood clot.

To test or not to test for inherited thrombophilias

First consider whether a deep venous thrombosis was provoked or unprovoked, as well as at the type of provoking factors.