Venous Thromboembolism: Risk Factors, Biomarkers, and Treatment

Articles in this series: •Zhu T, Martinez I, Emmerich J. Venous thromboembolism: risk factors for recurrence. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2009;29:298–310. •Jang MJ, Choi W, Bang SM, Lee T, Yeo-Kyeoung K, Ageno W, Doyeun Oh. Metabolic syndrome is associated with venous thromboembolism in the Korean population. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2009;29:311–315. •Sousou T, Khorana AA. New insights into cancer-associated thrombosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2009;29:316–320. •Farmer-Boatwright MK, Roubey RAS. Venous thrombosis in the antiphospholipid syndrome. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2009;29:321–325. •James AH. Venous thromboembolism in pregnancy. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2009;29:326–331. •Pabinger I, Ay C. Biomarkers and venous thromboembolism. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2009;29:332–336. In 2005, the U.S. Senate declared March as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) awareness month. This is the second year in which we have highlighted this event with a collection of 6 articles in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology focused on DVT. It is estimated that 2 million Americans per year develop DVT, which is associated with life-threatening pulmonary embolism (PE). DVT and PE are collectively termed venous thromboembolism (VTE). Despite the large number of cases, a survey conducted by the American Public Health Association in 2002 found that 74% of Americans were unaware of venous thrombosis.1 The risk of VTE increases with thrombophilias, age, pregnancy, and comorbidities, including cancer and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). It has not yet been determined whether similar mechanisms lead to VTE in each of these disorders. The articles in this issue describe current research into disorders associated with increased VTE risk, including potential pathophysiologic mechanisms, treatment of these clinical situations, and a review on biomarkers for the detection and prevention of VTE.