Risks of cerebrovascular disorders associated with combined hormonal contraceptives

Abstract

Introduction. Cerebral circulation disorders (CCD) hold the third place in the structure of complications coupled to combined oral contraceptives (СОСs). Acute disturbance of the cerebral blood supply is the main etiological factor for such complication; and hidden predisposition to thrombotic conditions such as thrombophilia plays a pivotal role in its pathogenesis, which is manifested due to administered hormonal contraceptives.Aim: to assess rate of detected genetic thrombophilic hemostatic defects, congenital and acquired ADAMTS-13 deficiency, antiphospholipid antibodies (APA), antibodies to phospholipid cofactors, hyperhomocysteinemia in patients with CCD administered with СОСs.Materials and Methods. A prospective analysis of 89 COCs use cases in women of reproductive age was carried out, among which 60 cases were selected for this study satisfying to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Group I consisted of 30 patients manifested with various CCD types due to COCs use, group II – 30 women taking COCs for at least 1 year lacking any thrombotic complications.Results. Women administered with COCs are at the peak CCD risk within the first 2 months after the onset. Somatic diseases differed little in patients from groups I and II. In group I, 5 (41.7 %) patients with venous thrombosis did not have classical thrombophilia, but 4 (33.3 %) women had anti-ADAMTS-13 antibodies combined with elevated von Willebrand factor (vWF) level. Inherited thrombophilia was less prevalent in patients with arterial thrombosis and transient ischemic attack (TIA): 1 (5.5 %) case of Leiden factor V mutation compared to patients with venous blood flow disorders (p < 0.05). Such patients more frequently had criterial APA (61.1 %), so that 5 (27.8 %) patients were found to have more than one type of criterial APA. In 4 (22.2 %) cases these were patients with ischemic stroke, 3 (37.5 %) of which had combination of three criterial APA (triple positivity) and 1 (12.5 %) had two criterial APA (double positivity); among them detection rate of criterial APA was 50.0 %. One patient (double positivity) was with TIA.Conclusion. It was found that: i) genetic and acquired factors were identified at high rate in patients with CCD administered with COCs, contributing to coagulopathy (86.7 %); ii) in case of venous thrombotic CCD coupled to administered COCs, inherited thrombophilia (58.3 %) prevails, in arterial thrombosis – APA circulation (50.0 %); iii) etiopathogenetic role of APA circulation in impaired cerebral blood flow depends on antibody type (criterial APA) and titer; iv) preexisting hypercoagulability leading to CCD coupled to COCs may be linked to several thrombophilic defects unrelated to classical thrombophilia.