RISK OF ARTERIAL THROMBOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH ANTICARDIOLIPIN ANTIBODIES AND LUPUS ANTICOAGULANT

The relationship between arterial or venous thrombosis and the levels of anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and/or existence of lupus anticoag ulant (LA) was studied. The 141 patients with systemic lupus erythemat osus (SLE) were divided into four groups: aCL single positive (25 case s), LA single positive (11 cases), aCL and LA double positive (25 case s), aCL and LA double negative (80 cases). The prevalence of thrombosi s was higher in aCL and LA double positive patients (21/25 cases, 84.0 %, P < 0.01) than that in aCL single positive patients (4/25 cases, 16 .0%), LA single positive patients (1/11 cases, 9.1%) and double negati ve patients (3/80 cases, 3.8%), Furthermore, in these double positive patients, all patients (10/10 cases) with a high positive level of aCL (> 10 units/ml) had arterial thrombosis, whereas only 2/15 patients ( 13.3%) with a low positive level of aCL (3-10 units/ml) were affected, Venous thrombosis was frequently found in the low positive group (9/1 5 cases, 60.0%). On the contrary, none of 105 LA negative patients had arterial thrombosis and only seven (6.7%) had venous thrombosis. Thes e findings indicate that a high aCL activity combined with a LA positi ve result might be a risk factor for arterial thrombosis.