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This is a first descriptive, retrospective, observational study aiming to evaluate the changes in bone turnover markers in pregnant women and to assess the effect of a long-term treatment with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), specifically, enoxaparin. Study involved 50 pregnant Caucasian women with thrombophilia. The patients either received prophylactic enoxaparin once daily subcutaneously (N = 35) or were observed without treatment (N = 15). Concentrations of total serum alkaline phosphatase (total AP), bone alkaline phosphatase (bone AP), osteoprotegerin (OPG), and the receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) were measured at 15, 25, and 35 weeks of gestation. Total serum AP increased with gestational age. In the group treated with enoxaparin, the percentage of bone AP concentration was lower (P < .05) than in the control group. Serum OPG also increased with gestational age, but no significant difference was found between the groups with- and without treatment. Despite the OPG increased, RANKL did not change.

The objective of our study was to examine the changes in coagulation parameters and inflammatory reaction over the course of 15 days in patients with severe sepsis. We tried to identify mechanisms by which sepsis-induced pathophysiological changes may influence the effectiveness of subcutaneously (SC) administered enoxaparin 40 mg once daily. A total of 16 patients (8 men, 8 women; age 35-83 years) meeting the inclusion criteria of severe sepsis were enrolled in this study. The follow-up was performed on days 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 of hospitalization at the intensive care unit (ICU). Blood coagulation (activated partial thromboplastin time [aPTT], prothrombin time [PT], fibrinogen, antithrombin (AT), protein C [PC], D-dimer, fragment 1.2 [F1.2], factor Xa [FXa] inhibition) and inflammatory reactants (interleukin 6 [IL-6], C-reactive protein [CRP], orosomucoid, alpha-1-antitrypsin) were tested. The mean FXa inhibition was 0.17 (+ or - 0.17) IU/mL. The arbitrarily established range of FXa inhibition for prophylaxis, 0.2 to 0.4 IU/mL, was reached in 22 cases (20%), while in 74 cases (68%), it was below and in 13 cases (12%) above the aforementioned range. Factor Xa inhibition positively correlated with AT (r = .42; P < .001) and PC (r = .45; P < .001) activities. A negative correlation was found between the FXa inhibition and alpha-1-antitrypsin concentrations (r = -.33; P = .01) but only in the subgroup with alpha-1-antitrypsin concentrations > or = 2.2 g/L. We confirmed that in most patients with sepsis, the prophylaxis with enoxaparin did not lead to the required FXa inhibition. The inhibition of FXa by enoxaparin depends mainly on the AT and PC activities.