Objective: To document maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality in anticoagulated, pregnant patients with mechanical heart valves until 42 days postpartum. Methods: In a tertiary single-centre, prospective cohort, 178 consecutive patients at the cardiac-obstetric clinic were screened for warfarin use between 1 July 2010 and 31 December 2015. Of 33 pregnancies identified, 29 were included. Patients received intravenous unfractionated heparin from six to 12 weeks’ gestation and peripartum, and warfarin from 12 to 36 weeks. Maternal outcomes including death, major haemorrhage and thrombosis, and foetal outcomes were documented. Results: There were two maternal deaths, five returns to theatre post-delivery, eight patients transfused, six major haemorrhages, one case of infective endocarditis and three ischaemic strokes. Ten pregnancies had poor foetal outcomes (six miscarriages, three terminations, one early neonatal death). Twenty patients required more than 30 days’ hospitalisation, and 15 required three or more admissions. HIV positivity was associated with surgical delivery (p = 0.0017). Conclusions: Complication rates were high despite centralized care.

Hypercoagulable states occur when the process of hemostasis is disturbed. It manifests as a deep vein thrombosis or a pulmonary embolism. It is also one of the most common cardiovascular diseases. There are two factors- genetic and acquired. Inherent factors involve coagulation inhibitor deficiency, prothrombin gene mutation and activated protein C resistance. Acquired factors include antiphospolipid syndrome, pregnancy, overweight etc. The analytic part of the thesis is focused on the effect of a low molecular weight heparin. It was shown in many theses that the LMWH could have a negative impact on a parturition complications or a week of parturition, a birth weight. The results of statistical analysis show that there is a coherence between the week of parturition and the type of parturition. What is more, the anticoagulation drug therapy shows a positive effect on the week of parturion. The data used in the thesis originate in laboratory information management system of Clinical Haematology ward in the hospital Nemocnice České Budějovice a.s.