Thrombophilia Management & Education

Introduction

Normally in a balanced blood coagulation system (haemostasis), platelets and coagulation proteins cooperate to prevent both excessive bleeding and excessive clotting. Blood clot or thrombus formation is an essentiall mechanism after injury. If blood clotting did not occur then you would experience excessive bleeding. The normal blood clot formation aids healing or repair and is localized to the area where injury has occurred. Thrombophilia is defined as a predisposition to form clots which may be inappropriate or excessive. This leads to formation of unwanted clots in the blood vessels sometimes preventing blood flow to essential organs. Thrombophilia is most often a mild condition and does not cause serious problems if known about and managed. It can be inherited and /or acquired. Wikipaedia has a good summary at www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrombophilia

Causes

Inherited thrombophilia is a genetic disorder caused due to a deficiency of anticoagulants or from overactivity of coagulation factors. It may be that platelets which normally stick together to plug wounds have lost their ‘sticky’ coating or that some protein in the cascade of active steps leading to thrombosis is reduced in amount or changed in its activity.

Acquired thrombophilia may be secondary to, auto-immune disease, pregnancy, obesity, nephrotic syndrome, cancer, female hormonal changes or even treatment with Heparin used to ‘thin’ the blood.

Symptoms

There are no known symptoms of thrombophilia at the early stages. Some people who are suffering with thrombophilia may experience increased incidence of superficial thrombophlebitis, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE).

Diagnosis

Thrombophilia is diagnosed by various blood tests. The tests are performed to check different factors of the clotting process. The tests evaluate levels (deficiency) of natural anticoagulants in your body. Your haematologist decides the treatment option based on the results of the blood test.

Treatment

The condition of thrombophilia does not always need treatment since it is typically causes no harm unless a blood clot forms. The treatment of thrombophilia aims at preventing the formation of unwanted blood clots in the body particularly if things are being done . Injections of anticoagulants are commonly used to treat thrombophilia and prevent deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.

At Vein Remedies we can still treat patients with thrombophilias, or help to manage that condition. If having a procedure done to remove veins or clear up an ulcer – you may be placed on an Anticoagulant to prevent the initiation or progression of clots.

General advice

You should take some of the following precautionary measures to prevent thrombophilia and its complications:

• Avoid smoking
• Be aware of warning symptoms of a blood clot. (warmth, redness, pain and swelling over the area)
• If you are a thrombophilia patient, please inform your doctor before undergoing any medical treatment or surgery
• Consume adequate amounts of fluid. Dehydration can facilitate formation of blood clots
• Women with thrombophilia should avoid oral contraceptive pills and hormone replacement therapies
• Check your weight regularly and reduce the weight if you are considered obese
• Keep yourself active and avoid sitting or standing for long periods of time
• Practise good eating habits
• If you are pregnant, you may need to take low-dose anticoagulant to prevent problems or miscarriage

Precautionary measures and early treatment of any blood clots can successfully prevent complications in most cases.