No abstract available.
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome* ; Pregnancy*

Transient monocular blindness (TMB) may occur in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Several mechanisms have been suspected as the causes of such TMBs. A 32-year-old female patient with SLE presented recurrent monocular altitudinal visual field defects lasting for several minutes and occurring less than six times per day. Her anticardiolipin antibody level was persistently positive. All cerebrovascular imagings were normal. We report a case of recurrent TMBs in SLE with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, which may have been induced by vasospasm.
Adult ; Amaurosis Fugax* ; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid* ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome* ; Female ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Visual Fields

Anticardiolipin antibodies(ACA) were assayed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 68 patients with Behçet's disease. Twenty seven (39.7 %) patients showed levels of ACA five standard deviations above the value of the control group. The frequency of ACA isotype IgM was found to be significantly increased in these patients. However, ACA was not found to have a significant association with clinical activity, thrombosis, positive Venereal Disease Research Laboratory(VDRL) test or antinuclear antibodies (ANA).
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin M ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases ; Thrombosis

No abstract available.
Animals ; Antibodies* ; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin ; beta 2-Glycoprotein I* ; Mice* ; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer*

The antiphospholipid syndrome is a multisystemic disorder comprising of venous and arterial thrombotic events, recurrent unexplained fetal losses, moderate thrombocytopenia, and a high frequency of neurologic events with laboratory findings of a positive lupus anticoagulant test or anticardiolipin antibody. It may occur in association with other disorders, particularly autoimmune diseases, in which case it is referred to as secondary antiphospholipid syndrome. But when it occurs without obvious underlying disease, it is primary antiphospholipid syndrome. We report a case of primary antiphospholipid syndrome in a 5 year old female child who had a cerebrovascular attack, moderate thrombocytopenia and splenomegaly.
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome* ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Child* ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor ; Splenomegaly ; Thrombocytopenia

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to identify the risk factors associated with seizure attack in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to propose the usefulness of them as predictive factors for seizure attack. METHODS: One hundred patients with SLE were included in this study. Twenty-five of these patients had seizure attacks during the course of their disease and age-, sex-matched 75 patients who did not have seizure were control group. We compared clinical manifestations and laboratory findings between the two groups. Seizures not related to SLE were excluded. RESULTS: Risk factors associated with seizure attack in SLE were high damage index at initial presentation and the presence of anticardiolipin antibody IgG regardless of its titer. Underlying illness other than SLE, duration of SLE, presence of previous organic brain abnormality, SLEDAI at initial presentation, clinical manifestations of SLE, laboratory findings (including hematologic, immunologic parameters and known laboratory activity indices) and medications before seizure attack were not significantly associated with seizure attack. Recurred seizure was not associated with any of these factors. CONCLUSION: High damage index at initial presentation and the presence of anticardiolipin antibody IgG were associated with seizure attacks in patients with SLE. These factors may be used as predictive factor for seizure attack in SLE.
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin ; Brain ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Risk Factors ; Seizures*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between neruopsychiatric manifestations and auto-antibodies in patients with neruopsychiatric lupus. METHODS: 233 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who were admitted or visited Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital from January 1993 to March 1996 were included in this study. The medical records of this group were reviewed in detail according to a predefined protocol with special emphasis upon any neruopsychiatric manifestations of the illness. RESULTS: 1) Among patients with SLE, 45(20.1%) had neruopsychiatric manifestations during the course of the disease. 2) The positivity of anticardiolipin antibody and antiribosomal P antibody is more frequent in neruopsychiatric group than that of non-neruopsychiatric lupus(56.3% vs. 22.9%, 44.1% vs. 21.5%, respectively, p<0.05). 3) The frequency of anticardiolipin antibody and lupus anticoagulant is more frequent in thrombotic group than that of non-thrombotic group(69.2% vs. 26.3%, 50.0% vs. 12.1%, respectively, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that investigation of the autoantibodies such as anticardiolipin antibody, antiribosomal P antibody, and lupus anticoagulant may be useful for early detection and management of SLE patients who have neruopsychiatric manifestations.
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin ; Autoantibodies* ; Humans ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Medical Records

OBJECTIVE: To report the prevalence of lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion and infertility. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies were analyzed by Diluted Russell's Viper Venom Test (DRVVT) and solid phase enzyme immunoassay, respectively. RESULTS: In 200 patients with infertility, there were 6 cases (3%) with positive lupus anticoagulants or anticardiolipin antibodies. Of these, 3 patients (1.5%) showed positive lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies, respectively. In 120 patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion, there were 13 cases (10.8%) of positive lupus anticoagulants or anticardiolipin antibodies. Of these, one patient (1%) showed lupus anticoagulants and 12 patients (10%) showed anticardiolipin antibodies. But in two groups, there was no cases with positive lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies. CONCLUSION: Lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies are definite cause of recurrent spontaneous abortion. There has been a speculation that they might be associated with infertility and repeated IVF failures. But it was found that the role of lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies in these cases are not clear.
Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Anticoagulants* ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Infertility* ; Pregnancy ; Prevalence ; Russell's Viper ; Venoms

BACKGROUND: Although anticardiolipin antibody(aCL)-related stroke is far more frequently identified in younger populations, the role of aCL in the pathogenesis of cerebral infarction may be important also in the old, stroke-prone population. We studied the clinical profiles of aCL- related stroke in elderly patient to look at its role on the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke. METHODS: We analyzed unselected patients with acute ischemic stroke and age matched controls for the presence of aCL, prospectively. Also, we studied the characteristics of these patients based on the conventional risk factors and other clinical, laboratory and radiological features in them. RESULTS: aCL was positive 30 (14.7%) of 203 stroke patients, but 11 (6.1%) in 193 control patients. The proportion of patients having more than one of the risk factors was significantly greater in aCL-positive (24/30, 80.0%) than in aCL-negative patients (100/173, 57.8%). The incidence of aCL positivity was significantly greater in patients having one or more risk factors (24/124, 19.3%) than in patients not having any of the risks (6/79, 7.6%). Two of the patients had prolonged aPTT, and only one had a lupus anticoagulant. A positive ANA and false-positive VDRL were not found in our patients. Radiological findings confer subcortical infarction. CONCLUSION: The elevated aCL are a risk marker for stroke also in the elderly population. Our aCL-positive patients generally had multiple risk factors for stroke and are associated with subcortical infarctions, contrary to previous studies. The role of aCL as a disease marker for ischemic stroke in elderly patients warrants further investigations.
Aged* ; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Cerebral Infarction ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Stroke*

OBJECTIVE: To detect the serum levels of soluble endothelial glycoprotein endoglin (s-Eng) in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and to evaluate the correlation between s-Eng levels and clinical features and laboratory parameters. METHODS: The levels of serum s-Eng were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 139 patients with APS, 44 patients with SLE but no APS, 37 patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), 23 patients with Bechet's disease (BD), 22 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and 22 persistent anticardiolipin antibody (aCL) positive individuals without SLE or APS (simply aCL positive group) and 87 health controls (HC) without any auto-immune diseases. These APS patients included 64 primary APS patients and 75 APS patients secondary to SLE.The correlation between the clinical data, laboratory parameters, and serum s-Eng levels were analyzed.Independent samples t test, paired t test, Chi-square Test, Mann-Whitney U test, Pearson's χ² test were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: (1) The serum levels of s-Eng were significantly higher in the patients with APS whether primary or secondary to SLE than in the health controls and simply aCL positive group and the patients with other autoimmune diseases, including SLE, pSS, BD and SSc (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the serum s-Eng levels between simply aCL positive group and health controls [(5.17±2.00) mg/L vs. (5.04±1.11) mg/L, P>0.05]. (2) The best cut-off value for the diagnosis of APS was no less than 8.37 mg/L as mean ± 3SD value, with the sensitivity at 0.772 and the specificity at 0.928. The Youden index was 0.700. These results indicated good validity of s-Eng as a diagnostic marker for APS. (3) The proportions of artery thrombosis and pathological pregnancy were higher in the group of s-Eng-positive APS patients than that in s-Eng-negative group (46/81 vs. 19/58, 29/65 vs. 10/44, respectively, all P<0.05). The levels of PLT were lower in the group of s-Eng-positive APS patients (72.00×10⁹/L vs. 119.00×10⁹/L, P<0.001). (4) The proportions of the presence (93.83% vs. 37.93%, P<0.001) and titer (61.70 U/mL vs. 15.45 U/mL, P<0.001) of aCL were both higher in the group of s-Eng-positive APS patients than in s-Eng-negative group. The proportions of the presence (61.73% vs. 43.10%, P<0.05) and titer (33.48 U/mL vs.17.40 U/mL, P<0.05) of anti-β2-glycoprotein I antibody were both higher in the group of s-Eng-positive APS patients than in s-Eng-negative group too. CONCLUSION s-Eng serum levels were significantly increased in the patients with APS, and it may play a role as acomplementary serological marker for the diagnosis and risk prediction of APS.
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome/diagnosis* ; Autoantibodies ; Endoglin/blood* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy