title: Increased resistance to activated protein C and factor V Leiden in recurrent abortions. Review of other hypercoagulability factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate hereditary and acquired hemostatic abnormalities associated with recurrent spontaneous early (first-trimester) abortions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A group of 56 Greek women with two or more unexplained primary spontaneous abortions, and a reference group of 148 women without a history of recurrent abortions, were screened for hypercoagulability. A randomly selected population of first-trimester pregnant women was also chosen for factor V Leiden genetic screening.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 21% of the women with recurrent abortions, compared with 12% of the reference group, showed increased activated protein C resistance. Fourteen per cent had positive lupus anticoagulant, compared with 11.5% of the reference group. For the rest of the parameters, there was no difference between the two groups. Of 22 women studied for factor V Leiden, one was homozygous and one was heterozygous. Results were compared using Fisher's exact test and two-tailed Student's t tests.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Increased activated protein C resistance appears to be an important factor in women with recurrent abortions. These data indicate the need for routine investigation of activated protein C resistance in women with recurrent abortions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Mitera Maternity and Surgical Center, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hatzis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cardamakis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Drivalas
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Makatsoris
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bevan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pantos
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Malliopoulou
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsagaris
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kreatsa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Antoniadi
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karageorgiou
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mantouvalos
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005165:Factor V / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011336:Probability; D011486:Protein C / Q000235:genetics*; D012008:Recurrence; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D019851:Thrombophilia / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D011486:Protein C; C095381:factor V Leiden; D005165:Factor V