 German physician Rudolf Virchow categorized abnormalities in the consistency of the blood as a factor in the development of thrombosis in 1856 . The exact nature of these abnormalities remained elusive until the first form of thrombophilia , antithrombin deficiency , was recognized in 1965 by the Norwegian hematologist Olav Egeberg . Protein C deficiency followed in 1981 , when described by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute and the U.S. Centers of Disease Control . Protein S deficiency followed in 1984 , described by researchers at the University of Oklahoma . 
