Thromboembolism during pregnancy. Risks, challenges, and recommendations

Pregnancy is an important risk factor for venous thrombosis, and venous thromboembolism is a leading cause of preventable death in pregnancy. Diagnosis of venous thromboembolism is complicated in that the symptoms of dyspnea and lower extremity edema are relatively common complaints of pregnant patients. Physicians should maintain an appropriately high index of suspicion and request diagnostic imaging in a timely manner. Diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis with Doppler ultrasonography of the lower extremity poses no health risk to the fetus, but other radiographic studies pose a low radiation risk to the fetus. Because anticoagulant therapy poses a greater health risk to mother and fetus than does the radiation required for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, clinicians should aggressively pursue objective evidence of venous thromboembolism. Once the diagnosis is made, anticoagulation with intravenous unfractionated heparin or subcutaneous low-molecular-weight heparin should be used prepartum followed by warfarin therapy after delivery.