Vaskulárna medicína 2/2017

Thrombophilia and hormonal replacement treatment

Women in developed countries are spending nowadays in postmenopausal period more than 30 years, i.e. almost 40% of theirs life-time. In this time-period there is a reduction of estrogen level and its sequels: osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive dysfunction and symptoms from estrogen deficiency in sensitive women. The most effective treatment of menopausal symptoms is hormone replacement treatment (HRT), especially using estrogens. However, HRT is associated with various adverse effects. The review deals with results of the large randomized clinical trials aimed to assess the risk/benefit ratio of this treatment, particularly the association of HRT to a presence of both the venous thromboembolism (VTE) and thrombophilia. Based on these findings, there are the recommendations summarized for clinical practice.

Keywords: hormonal replacement treatment (HRT), menopause, thrombophilia, estrogens, venous thromboembolism (VTE)