Venous thromboembolic complications in pregnant women

Materials and methods. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 63 medical records of pregnant women with thrombophlebitis and phlebothrombosis of the lower extremities.

Results and discussion. In 41 cases pregnant women had thrombophlebitis of the superficial veins of the lower extremities and in 22 cases – phlebothrombosis of the deep veins. Thrombophlebitis of the superficial veins in 100 % cases developed on the background of varicose disease of the lower extremities. Pulmonary embolism developed in 2 out of 41 patients with thrombophlebitis of the superficial veins (3.2 %) and in 3 out of 22 patients with deep vein thrombosis (13.7 %). We conducted surgical treatment in 7 patients. In 6 cases we performed crossectomy, in one case – ligation of superficial femoral vein. There is a tendency for higher incidence of pulmonary embolism in deep vein thrombosis compared to superficial thrombophlebitis (13.7 and 3.2 %, respectively). However, there are no statistically significant differences, which, in our opinion, is due to the size of the group.

Conclusions. 1. Superficial vein thrombophlebitis in all patients developed on the background of varicose disease. This indicates the need for varicose disease correction as pregravid preparation. 2. There is a tendency towards a higher incidence of pulmonary embolism in deep vein phlebothrombosis compared to thrombophlebitis of superficial veins in pregnant women.

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