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Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the common name for all pathological thrombosis in venous circulation. It commonly occurs deep veins of lower extremities; and more rarely in upper extremities, pelvis and in other veins. The most important component of VTE which poses a threat to life is pulmonary embolism. It is determined that pulmonary embolism is deadly disease, and 30% of the patients with pulmonary embolism die within the 30 days, and exactly the same proportion of patients (30%) die within following 8 years due to chronic complications such as recurrent attacks or pulmonary hypertension. Hospitalization is one of the most important factors which acutely trigger the pulmonary embolism. The purpose of this study is to perform etiological examination of the patients who apply to the department of hematology of our hospital and who are diagnosed with venous thromboembolism.

In this study, we prospectively evaluated the factors, which can play a role for etiology, in outpatients of our hospital, who were diagnosed with VTE and who received hospitalized treatment during 2009 – 2012.

The patients with venous thromboembolism, 83 in total, ranged in age between 18 and 50 years with an average age of 38,1±10,1. 35 of the patients were men (42,2%) and 48 (57,8%) were women. According to the classification of thrombosis localization in the patients, pulmonary embolism was detected in 34 patients (41,0%), DVT in 29 patients (39%), SVT (sinus ven thrombosis) in 9 patients (10,8%), RVT (retinal ven thrombosis) in 7 patients (8,4%), and intraabdominal ven thrombosis in 4 patients (4,8%). In the classification of thrombosis localization of the patients with venous thrombosis according to the age groups, there was a statistically significant difference among the age groups in terms of pulmonary embolism (p=0,028), and localization of pulmonary embolism was more frequent in the age group of >40 compared to ≤30 (p=0,008). No statistically significant difference was determined among the age groups for the frequency of localization for DVT (p=0,325). There was a statistically significant difference among the age groups for sinus thrombosis (p=0,005), and frequency of sinus thrombosis was higher for the age groups of ≤30 and >40 compared to the age group of 31-40 (p=0,010 and p=0,017). When the findings were evaluated as normal/heterozygote+homozygote for FV Leiden, there was a statistically significant difference among the age groups (p=0,026), and the rates of heterozygote/homozygote was lower for the age groups of ≤30 and >40 compared to the age group of 31-40 (p=0,013 and p=0,035). No statistically significant difference was detected for prothrombin gene mutation (p=0,090). When inherited and acquired thrombophilia factors were studied in the patients with recurrent abortus history, FV Leiden heterozygote (16,7%) was determined in 8 patients, FV Leiden homozygote (6,3%) in 3 patients, prothrombin gene mutation heterozygote 1 (2,1%) in 1 patient, AT3 deficiency (2,1%) in 1 patient, high level of D-dimer (6,3%) in 3 patients, high level of fibrinogen (8,3%) in 4 patients, high level of homocysteine (8,3%) in 4 patients, ANA positive (8,3%) in 4 patients, AntiDsDNA positive (4,2%) in 2 patients, AKAIGM positive 4 (8,3%) in 4 patients, AKAIGG positive (4,2%) in 2 patients.

Venous thromboembolism is a frequently seen at the clinic practice with high mortality and morbidity. The patients must be evaluated with appropriate methods, and their diagnosis must be made at an early stage. Moreover, inherited and acquired risk factors must be systematically evaluated in an appropriate manner. This evaluation proposes anticoagulant therapy for risky cases and determines duration of the therapy.