Recent advances in understanding clotting and evaluating patients with recurrent thrombosis

Significant advances have been made in defining the regulatory mechanisms that control blood clotting. These are reviewed, with special attention to the functions of the natural inhibitors antithrombin III, protein C, and protein S. Congenital deficiencies of these inhibitors as well as acquired abnormalities, such as defective fibrinolysis, and their role in promoting thrombosis are also discussed, as are thrombotic complications of pregnancy. Pregnancy decreases levels of protein S to 40% to 50% of normal levels. The decrease occurs early in pregnancy and persists into the postpartum period; it appears to be a hormonal rather than a dilutional effect. It is not known whether the thrombotic risk associated with pregnancy is increased in women who are congenitally deficient in protein S. Oral contraceptives decrease levels of protein S by about 20%. Women with a personal or family history of thrombosis should be evaluated for predisposing conditions before they start an oral contraceptive, as should women taking oral contraceptives who develop deep venous thrombosis.Most people who experience venous thrombosis have normal hemostasis. Some people have inherited deficiencies of protein C, protein S, and antithrombin iii. They tend to have deep venous thrombosis which increases their risk for pulmonary emboli. Some acquired disorders which predisposes people to thrombosis include defective fibrinolysis which often occurs after surgery or infection, Trousseau's syndrome (excessive coagulant activity linked with adenocarcinoma), and lupus anticoagulant which is an immunoglobulin G or M antibody directed against negatively charged phospholipids. Hormones and probably not a dilution effect reduces free and bound protein S levels during pregnancy. Functional protein S activity is still 40-50% below normal levels 1-3 days after delivery. This decrease appears to protect against bleeding but does have venous thrombosis and pulmonary emboli during pregnancy as side effects. Non-oral-contraceptive (OC) users have greatly higher protein S levels than do OC users (28.6 mcg/ml vs. 24.3 mcg/ml; p.005) which gives more credence to the belief that hormones are responsible for the fall in protein S activity during pregnancy. OCs reduce free and total protein S levels almost 20%. Smoking may even further reduce these levels in women during pregnancy and who use Ocs. Women who have had venous thrombosis should not use OCs. Physicians should also consider family history especially age of affected family member, severity of thrombotic episodes, and the clinical setting. They should look for an underlying abnormality in patients who develop thrombosis while using OCs. If thrombosis develops during pregnancy, physicians should call for a venogram, venous duplex scanning, and, if required, invasive tests. The most sensible treatment is intravenous heparin for 5-7 days then therapeutic doses of heparin. Heparin therapy should stop before delivery and be reinstituted shortly thereafter and continued throughout the postpartum period. Physicians should take extra precautions when performing surgery on an OC user.