Is Factor V Leiden an Important Cause for Recurrent First Trimester Pregnancy Loss, AHMED L. ABOUL NASR, AHMED S. NASR, RANIA M. SAMY, SHERINE H. GADALLAH and TAREK E. MOHAMED
Abstract
Aim of Work: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Factor V Leiden (FVL), as a risk factor for first trimester Recurrent Pregnancy Loss (RPL), and to assess the incidence of first trimester RPL in patients with FVL mutation.
Material and Methods: One hundred women were enrolled in this study, fifty with a diagnosis of unexplained first trimester RPL (the case group) and fifty healthy women having at least one child and with no history of RPL (the control group), and Activated Protein C Resistance (APCR) was measured in all subjects of each group, after exclusion of the most common known causes of RPL. We then divided each of the control and case groups into two groups, the first with normal APCR test and the other with abnormal test result, to allow further identification of the incidence of first trimester RPL in patients with FVL mutation.
Results: Nine patients of the case group and four patients of the control group were proved to have abnormal APCR test with no statistically significant differences between both groups. No statistically significant differences in the number of abortions among women with normal and abnormal APCR tests in both groups.
Conclusion: FVL may increase the risk of first-trimester RPL however it is not an important independent cause. Routine FVL screening in first trimester recurrent pregnancy loss should not be the rule.