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Abstract
Antiphospholipid syndrome is being increasingly recognized as a disease with a myriad of clinical manifestations
ranging from recurrent thrombosis and pregnancy morbidity to valvular lesions, transverse myelitis,
thrombocytopenia and hemolytic anemia. It may be primary or secondary, i.e., associated with other autoimmune
diseases. The latest classification criteria (Sydney 2006) recognize just three tests to define this syndrome-lupus
anticoagulant, anticardiolipin antobodies and anti 2 glycoprotein 1 antibodies. Treatment of thrombotic events
involves lifelong anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists like warfarin. Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome
(APS) with only pregnancy morbidity is treated with thromboprophylaxis using heparin during pregnancy
and postpartum for 6 weeks. Catastrophic APS occurs in approximately 1% of APS, and is characterized by
microvascular thrombosis (thrombotic storm) and organ dysfunction. In this review we discuss the pathogenesis,
diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of the APS.
DOI:
10.4103/0971-9903.126231
Pathogenesis of Antiphospholipid
Syndrome
As the name suggests antiphospholipid syndrome
is mediated through antibodies directed against
phospholipids or proteins associated with
phospholipids, the latter being more common.
Although many antiphospholipid antibodies have
been described, the three that are the best studied
and are part of the diagnostic criteria are lupus
anticoagulant, anticardiolipin and anti 2 glycoprotein
1. More than one antibody is associated with lupus
anticoagulant activity including antibodies to
cardiolipin (ACL), 2GP1, prothrombin and annexin
V. Several mechanism have been suggested to explain
the prothrombotic state induced by antibodies to the
Department of Internal Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
Address for correspondence:
Dr. Varun Dhir, Department of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology Services, Postgraduate Institute
of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh-160 012, India.
E-mail: varundhir@gmail.com
20
Clinical Features
Like other autoimmune diseases, there is a female
preponderance in APS as well (F:M = 4-5:1). APS
has an onset in the middle aged, i.e 30-40 years old,
although, the Euro-phospholipid cohort had around
10% patients who were older than 50 years and 2.5%
below 15 years of age. Antiphopholipid syndrome
can be a standalone entity (called primary APS)
or it may be associated with other connective tissue
diseases (called secondary APS). Primary APS was
most common (50%) followed by APS associated
with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE;around
35%) in a large cohort of patients with APS.[8]
Thrombosis is characteristic of this syndrome with
venous thrombosis being most common. Common
manifestations (non-obstetric), at onset, in a large
cohort of 1000 patients (Euro-phospholipid cohort)
were deep venous thrombosis, thrombocytopenia,
livedo reticularis, stroke, pulmonary embolism,
fetal loss and hemolytic anemia. Less common
but nonetheless important clinical features were
pseudovasculitic skin lesions, skin ulcers, myocardial
infarction and digital gangrene.[8] Among the
cumulative manifestations during the evolution of the
disease (initial 5-6 years) the most common was deep
venous thrombosis (38.9%) [Table 2].[8]
Obstetric and fetal complications include early and
late pregnancy losses and pre-eclampsia. Other
Table 1: Revised Sapporo or Sidney criteria for classification of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome
Clinical criteria
The presence of either vascular thrombosisorpregnancy morbidity, is defined as follows:
Vascular thrombosis is defined as one or more episodes of venous, arterial, or small vessel thrombosis, with unequivocal imaging or histologic evidence of
thrombosis in any tissue or organ. Superficial venous thrombosis doesnotsatisfy the criteria for thrombosis for APS.
Pregnancy morbidity is defined as otherwise unexplained fetal death at 10 weeks gestation of a morphologically normal fetus,orone or more premature
births before 34 weeks of gestation because of eclampsia, pre-eclampsia, or placental insufficiency*,orthree or more embryonic (<10 week gestation)
pregnancy losses unexplained by maternal or paternal chromosomal abnormalities or by maternal anatomic or hormonal causes.
*Accepted features of placental insufficiency include: i) abnormal or non-reassuring fetal surveillance tests ii) abnormal Doppler flow velocimetry waveform
analysis suggestive of fetal hypoxemia iii) oligohydramnios iv) postnatal birth weight less than the tenth percentile for the gestational age.
Laboratory criteria
The presence of aPL, on two or more occasions at least 12 weeks apart and no more than five years prior to clinical manifestations, as demonstrated by one
or more of the following:
IgGand/orIgM aCL in moderate or high titer (>40 units GPL or MPL or >99th percentile for the testing laboratory)
Antibodies to 2-glycoprotein I (anti-2GPI) of IgG or IgM isotype at a titer >99th percentile for the testing laboratory when tested according to
recommended procedures
Lupus anticoagulant (LA) activity detected according to guidelines established by international society of Thrombosis and hemostasis.
Arterial Thrombosis
Obstetric/fetal
manifestations
Deep vein thrombosis
Stroke (19.8%)
Early fetal loss
(38.9%)
(35.4%)
Pulmonary
Myocardial infarction
Late fetal loss
thromboembolism (14.1%) (5.5%)
(16.9%)
Arm vein thrombosis
Arterial thrombosis legs Preterm birth
(3.4%)
(4.3%)
(10.6%)
Subclavian vein thrombosis Arterial thrombosis arms Pre-eclampsia
(1.8%)
(2.7%)
(9.5%)
Jugular vein thrombosis
Digital gangrene (3.3%) Eclampsia (4.4%)
(0.9%)
Cerebral vein thrombosis
Skin gangrene (2.1%)
(0.7%)
Retinal vein thrombosis
(0.9%)
21
Laboratory Findings in
Anti-Phosholipid Syndrome
General
22
Anticardiolipin antibody
Lupus anticoagulant
23
Non-criteria antibodies
24
Prognosis
Most patients of APS with thrombosis do well on
anticoagulation. In the five year follow up of the
europhosholipid cohort in which patients were on oral
anticoagulation, only 2.1% developed new DVT, 2.4%
developed new strokes and 2.3% developed new transient
ischemic attacks.[53] However, untreated, a majority of
patients with APS will have recurrent thrombosis in the
next 5 years. The prognosis of patients with pregnancy
morbidity was also fairly good in the europhospholipid
cohort with 74% having successful pregnancies at study
entry which increased to 81.8% in the five year followup. The overall mortality was 5.3%.[53]
Conclusions
The antiphospholipid syndrome is an enigmatic
autoimmune disease with newer manifestations
being recognized on an ongoing basis. The current
classification criteria (Sydney 2006) which require
the presence of one clinical and one laboratory criteria
are used in diagnosis. Treatment includes lifelong
anticoagulation in a case of thrombosis, whereas for
isolated obstetric APS, prophylactic heparin is given
in pregnancy. Low dose aspirin is often added to both
regimens. APS remains an exciting area for research
and encompasses all areas of medicine presenting as
young stroke to a neurologist, venous thrombosis to
an internist, poor obstetric history to an obstetrician,
valvular disease or myocardial infarctions to a
cardiologist.
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