[Thrombophilia and pregnancy]

The risk of venous thromboembolic disease is increased in pregnancy and death from pulmonary embolism is the first cause of maternal mortality in western countries. Biological thrombophilia has been linked to venous thromboembolism during pregnancy in some cohort studies. The relative risk of thrombosis in pregnancy varies according to the type of thrombophilia and the absolute risk to develop a venous thromboembolic disease remains weak for the most frequent variants. The association between the presence of thrombophilia and pregnancy complications is less clear, apart from the link with antiphospholipid syndrome. In this article we give some advice concerning the managing of the most frequent situations, but the more complex situations necessitate a specialist counseling.