Miscarriage Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Miscarriage, including details on signs, symptoms, recurrent, pregnancy.

Heparin treatment in pregnancy loss: Potential therapeutic benefits beyond anticoagulation.

Girardi G

Department of Medicine, Hospital for Special Surgery-Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY 10021, USA. girardig@hss.edu

Interventions with heparin therapies have increased fetal survival in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). In this review, several physiological and pharmacological effects of heparin are described. These different mechanisms of action could explain the beneficial effects of heparin in the treatment of recurrent pregnancy loss in patients with APS. In addition to direct effects of heparin on the coagulation cascade, heparin might protect pregnancies by reducing the binding of antiphospholipid antibodies, reducing inflammation, facilitating implantation and or inhibiting complement activation.

Published 13 June 2005 in J Reprod Immunol, 66(1): 45-51.
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