Background
Chronic venous leg ulcers are major health problems with great financial burden on patients and health resources. They are either post-thrombotic or not. Factor V Leiden (FVL) mutation is the most commonly diagnosed inherited thrombophilia. The present study compared the prevalence of activated protein C resistance (APCR) due to FVL mutation in patients with chronic nonthrombotic venous ulcer with an age-matched and sex-matched control group.
Patients and methods
Over a period of 6 years, 64 patients with chronic venous (nonthrombotic) leg ulcers were compared with 64 controls regarding APCR and FVL mutation.
Results
In total, 17 patients out of 64 tested positive for APCR (26.6%) [15 of them (23.4%) were due to FVL mutation (13 heterozygous and two homozygous)], whereas among controls only four tested positive for APCR (6.25%), all of them due to FVL mutation (all were heterozygous).
Conclusion
Patients with chronic nonthrombotic venous ulcers had statistically significant prevalence of FVL mutation compared with age-matched and sex-matched controls. Our results (although with some limitations) showed that a special cohort of primary varicose veins with this thrombophilic abnormality needs further investigation to accurately elicit its possible role in their disease progression into venous ulcers.