Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome: Clinical description and triggering factors in 8 patients

In 1992, an attempt to single out a different and important group of patien ts was adopted by introducing the term "catastrophic" antiphospholipid synd rome (APS) to describe their potentially life threatening clinical course, characterized by acute multiorgan failure (3 or more organ systems damaged) , Patients previously described in the literature showed certain difference s that appear to distinguish this minority group of patients with catastrop hic APS from the majority of APS patients, We describe 8 patients with cata strophic APS, focusing especially on the possible extrinsic factors (mainly infections) that might trigger this "catastrophic" situation.