Reunión clínica inter-hospitales: síndrome antifosfolípidos catastrófico, un cuadro de microangiopatía / Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome, a case of microangiopathy

Se presenta el caso de una mujer joven, sin antecedentes de importancia, que muestra trombosis de grandes y pequeños vasos. A pesar del tratamiento con anticoagulación y corticoides en dosis altas, desarrolla necrosis cutánea y una importante respuesta inflamatoria sistémica con disfunción orgánica múltiple, por lo que .se le indicó plasmaféresis y, posteriormente, rituximab, con buena respuesta. Se discute el síndrome antifosfolípidos con énfasis en los anticuerpos antiprotrombina y la patogenia de la microangiopatía en el síndrome antifosfolípidos catastróficos.

We present the case of a young, otherwise healthy woman, who developed thrombosis of large and small vessels and capillaries. Despite anticoagulation treatment and high doses of glucocorticoids, she developed cutaneous necrosis and systemic inflammatory response with multiple organ dysfunction. Plasmapheresis and rituximab were administered with good response. We discuss the antiphospholipid syndrome, with emphasis on antiprothrombin antibodies and the pathogenesis of microangiopathy in antiphospholipid syndrome.

Usefulness of Silica Clotting Time for Detection of Lupus Anticoagulants / 대한진단검사의학회지

BACKGROUND: The presence of lupus anticoagulants (LA) is a strong risk factor for thrombosis in antiphospholipid syndrome. We investigated the usefulness of addition of silica clotting time (SCT) to the pre-existing dilute Russell's viper venom test (dRVVT) for detection of LA. Also, we analyzed differences in the thrombotic features and the characteristics of antiphospholipid antibodies between dRVVT and SCT. METHODS: A total of 167 patients positive for LA or anti-cardiolipin (anti-CL) antibody and 76 healthy controls were enrolled. The dRVVT and SCT were used for detection of LA. Anti-CL, anti-beta2-glycoprotein I (anti-beta2 GPI) and anti-prothrombin (anti-PT) antibodies were measured using commercial ELISA kits. RESULTS: In detection of thrombosis, the sensitivity of the combined test of SCT and dRVVT was 56.4%, which was higher than that of dRVVT alone (46.2%) or SCT alone (23.1%). The specificity of the combined test (80.9%) was comparable to that of dRVVT (81.9%). Also, odds ratio for predicting thrombosis was higher in the combined test than in dRVVT or SCT alone. When normalized LA ratio of the two tests was compared, the group of patients with higher ratio of SCT showed significantly higher prevalence of recurrent abortion and higher positivity of IgG types of anti-CL, anti-beta2 GPI and anti-PT than the group with higher ratio of dRVVT. CONCLUSIONS: Addition of SCT to dRVVT can improve the detection sensitivity of thrombosis in LA test. And the high normalized LA ratio of SCT may be a useful parameter for detection of recurrent abortion.