Hereditary and Acquired Thrombophilic Disorders Published by:

Thrombosis is the most common cause of death in the United States. Approximately 2 mil-lion individuals die each year from an arterial or venous thrombosis or the consequences thereof (1). Approximately 80 % to 90 % of all causes of thrombosis can now be defined with respect to cause. Of these, more than 50 % of all patients harbor a congenital or acquired blood coagula-tion protein or platelet defect that caused the thrombotic event. It is obviously of major impor-tance to define those individuals harboring such a defect, as this allows: 1) appropriate an-tithrombotic therapy to decrease risks of recur-rence, 2) determination of the time the patient should remain on therapy for secondary preven