Thrombophilia is a condition related to increased blood clotting, which can lead to the formation of blood clots. Although many people with thrombophilia do not form dangerous blood clots, the predisposition to deep vein thrombosis or to face certain complications increases significantly during pregnancy, so it is necessary for the pregnant woman to know if she has thrombophilia, to know how she should take care and what treatment. to follow.
Thrombophilia can be heritable -that is, the respective gene is inherited (either from the mother, or from the father (heterozygous mutation) or from both parents (homozygous mutation), or it can be interest – which occurs later in life due to medical problems.
Normally, when you accidentally cut your finger, for example, your body forms a blood clot (thrombus) that stops the bleeding. Subsequently, your body breaks down the clot when it is no longer needed. When you have thrombophilia, your body tends to make too many blood clots or doesn’t break old ones.
Blood clots can cause blockages or blockages in the veins or arteries. This can damage your major organs or cause a stroke or heart attack because blood vessels carry the oxygen that the body’s cells need. If there is a blockage in the blood vessels, the blood cannot supply the cells with oxygen.
Blood clots can travel through your body, causing serious problems in:
- Lungs (pulmonary embolism)
- Heart (heart attack)
- Brain stroke)
- Kidneys (renal failure)
- Veins in the legs or arms (deep vein thrombosis or DVT)
- The fetus in the womb (miscarriage)
Thrombophilia can also promote the formation of clots in peripheral arteries that can cause blockages (peripheral artery disease or PAD).
Types of hereditary thrombophilia:
- Factor V Leiden Thrombophilia – The most common type of genetic thrombophilia (present in 5-8% of people in Europe).
- Prothrombin mutation (factor II): the second most common type of genetic thrombophilia.
- Protein C deficiency
- Protein S deficiency
- Deficiency of antithrombin III
- MTHFR mutation (gene mutation involved in folic acid metabolism)
- other mutations.
Acquired thrombophilia, which is more common than inherited, stems from a variety of things, such as medications you take over time, your lifestyle, or certain existing conditions, acute or chronic. The most common acquired thrombophilia is antiphospholipid antibody syndromewhich is the most aggressive thrombophilia.
To find out if you have thrombophilia or not, you can do a series of tests on the advice of your doctor – screening for hereditary / acquired thrombophiliabut this is most often recommended when the woman has suffered 1-2 miscarriages, without the cause being identified, when there are cases of thrombophilia in the family, etc.
It is essential to know that many women who have mild forms of thrombophilia will not have problems in pregnancy, but in the case of more pronounced forms then the recommendation is to be monitored and undergo treatment, which usually consists of low-dose aspirin or injectable heparinwhich have been shown not to be harmful to the fetus in the womb.
