Description
At present there is no evidence that thrombophilia testing predicts heparin resistance, heparin failure, anticoagulantinduced skin necrosis or recurrence of VTE whilst on oral anticoagulant therapy. In the majority of unselected patients thrombophilia testing has no predictive value for recurrence after stopping treatment. A longer initial period of oral anticoagulation may be beneficial in some patients with thrombophilia but this remains uncertain. The relative risk of thrombosis is increased in affected family members of thrombosis-prone families but this translates to a relatively low absolute risk. Family history is an important indicator of risk and should be taken into consideration when deciding whether to test and when counselling subjects regarding risk.
