[Diagnosis of the antiphospholipid syndrome in anticoagulated patients]

Abstract

The antiphospholipid syndrome is characterized by thromboembolic events and/or recurrent miscarriages in the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies and/or a lupus anticoagulant. Anticardiolipin antibodies are detected by ELISA whereas lupus anticoagulant detection includes a variety of coagulometric tests. However, a large number of patients with suspected antiphospholipid syndrome are anticoagulated with either heparin or coumadin when evaluated for the presence of a lupus anticoagulant and false positive test results may ensue, thus making coagulometric testing unreliable in this situation. Modifications of standard coagulometric tests have been suggested in order to circumvent this problem and studies of several patient cohorts have shown that the majority of patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome are anticardiolipin positive. However diagnosis in patients receiving anticoagulation remains a difficult task.