Antiphospholipid syndrome: a clinical review

Mezhov, Veronica; Segan, Julian D; Tran, Huyen; Cicuttini, Flavia M

doi:10.5694/mja2.50262

Topics

Hematologic diseases

Skin and connective tissue diseases

Information science

Pharmaceutical preparations

Immune system diseases

Summary

Antiphospholipid syndrome is characterised by recurrent thrombosis (arterial, venous, microvascular) and/or pregnancy complications in the presence of persistent antiphospholipid antibodies (lupus anticoagulant, anti‐β2‐glycoprotein 1 and anticardiolipin).
It can be a primary disease or associated with another autoimmune disease (especially systemic lupus erythematosis).
Testing for antiphospholipid antibodies should be considered in patients < 50 years of age with unprovoked venous or arterial thromboembolism, thrombosis at unusual sites or pregnancy complications.
The mainstay of treatment is antithrombotic therapy and recommendations vary based on arterial, venous or pregnancy complications.
If associated with systemic lupus erythematosis, hydroxychloroquine is recommended both as primary and secondary prophylaxis.
Antithrombotic treatment is gold standard and effective.

1 Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC
2 Monash University, Melbourne, VIC

Correspondence: flavia.cicuttini@monash.edu

Acknowledgements:

We thank James McFadyen, Indi Rasaratnam, Juan Aw and Shom Bhattacharjee of Alfred Health for contributing to the content and review of this article.

Competing interests:

Huyen Tran has received grants from Bayer Health and Pfizer and speaker honoraria from Bayer Health and Boehringer Ingelheim.

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