Risk factors for venous thromboembolism

Recognizing risk factors: identifying risk factors can be highly useful for diagnosis and allows a selection of patients who would benefit from prophylaxis. Clinical risk factors: Patient-related factors such as age, history of thromboembolism, immobilization, or thrombophilia as well as disease-related factors favoring venous thrombosis such as cancer, surgery or trauma must be recognized. Hemostasis: Much progress has been made in screening rests for thrombophilia, coagulation disorders favoring thrombus formation. Resistance to activated protein C, a recently discovered anomaly due to a factor V mutation, is the main cause of hereditary thrombophilia. The exact prevalence of this mutation in patients with thromboembolic disease has not yet been determined.