Gender-related differences in the outcome of patients with venous thromboembolism and thrombophilia

Three-factorial Genetic Thrombophilia with Recurrent Thrombotic Events in a Saudi Patient: A Case Report

Thrombophilia is caused by several genetic and acquired factors. Existence of more than one genetic factor may increase the risk of developing recurrent thrombotic events. Here, we present a case of a 48-year-old male with a known history of deep venous thrombosis and a known mutation in factor V Leiden combined with mild protein S deficiency, who presented with a painful swelling in the left leg. Moreover, the patient had a history of diabetes, dyslipidemia and obesity. Prothrombin time and platelet count were within the normal range. The international normalized ratio and activated partial thromboplastin time were 3.21 and 36.7 s, respectively. The Doppler study showed a thrombus in the saphenous vein, and complementary genetic screening investigations revealed heterozygous mutation for prothrombin (G20210A). A diagnosis of multifactorial genetic thrombophilia was established. The patient was treated with warfarin, which resulted in significant improvement in the follow-ups, and at the time of reporting this case, there were no clinical or biological signs of thrombosis. The presence of multiple hereditary and acquired thrombophilic factors is a rare clinical presentation that requires close monitoring, for which a lifelong anticoagulation therapy should be discussed based on the clinical response of the patient.

Sex, gender and venous thromboembolism: do we care enough?

: The role of sex and gender in determining clinical presentation, diagnostic approach and outcomes of venous thromboembolism is not fully and systematically addressed, except for hormone-related events in women. A lack of knowledge is also apparent regarding drug prescription patterns, physician bias, enrolment in clinical studies and analysis of sex-related confounders in preclinical and clinical studies. As was shown for cardiovascular disease, ignoring sex and gender in medicine can have important impact on outcomes, including mortality. In this review, we seek to address some aspects of venous thromboembolism such as epidemiology and clinical presentation, recurrence, risk factors, animal studies, safety and efficacy of antithrombotic drugs, highlighting what is known and what is not regarding the role of sex and gender, and hoping to focus some interest and to promote the inclusion of these variables in all future studies on venous thromboembolism.