Antiphospholipid syndrome and factor V Leiden. Three cases with recurrent venous thrombosis

Recurrent thrombosis is a common complication of various rheumatic disorder s and is part of the definition of antiphospholipid syndrome. We report thr ee cases of recurrent venous thrombosis due not only to antiphospholipid sy ndrome with a normal activated partial thromboplastin time but also to resi stance to activated protein C caused by the factor V Leiden mutation. These three cases confirm that thrombotic disease is frequently multifactorial a nd suggest that resistance to activated protein C should be looked for rout inely in patients with suggestive clinical manifestations, particularly whe n standard clotting tests are normal. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et me dicales Elsevier SAS.