Antiphospholipid syndrome. Clinical presentation, immunological profile, and treatment
Keywords:
antiphospholipid syndrome; initial symptom; clinical manifestations with and without criteria; immunological profile; medical treatmentAbstract
Introduction: Antiphospholipid syndrome has heterogeneous clinical manifestations, specific diagnostic tools, and treatment guidelines.
Objective: To describe clinical, laboratory, immunological profile, and treatment aspects of patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.
Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at the “Arnaldo Milián Castro” Hospital from 2022 to 2024 as part of an institutional doctoral project. The study population consisted of patients diagnosed with antiphospholipid syndrome and followed up at the Autoimmune Diseases Clinic from 2000 to 2015 (208), and the sample (128) was selected according to the established criteria. Clinical variables, laboratory immunological profile, and medical treatment were studied.
Results: 93.7% of the study population had systemic lupus erythematosus. The most frequent initial symptom was obstetric morbidity due to miscarriage of less than 10 weeks (30.5%). Thrombotic syndrome was the most relevant clinical manifestation meeting diagnostic criteria (84.4%), of which venous thrombosis was present (52.3%), with iliofemoral thrombosis occurring in 64.2%. Among the non-critical clinical manifestations, livedo reticularis was present in 40.6%. In the immunological profile, the lupus anticoagulant was positive in 98.4% of cases, and prednisone was the most frequently used medical treatment (83.6%).
Conclusions: The majority of patients had systemic lupus erythematosus, with miscarriage before 10 weeks of gestation as their initial symptom. The most relevant clinical manifestation was iliofemoral deep vein thrombosis, and livedo reticularis was a non-critical symptom. The lupus anticoagulant was the primary laboratory result for diagnosis, and prednisone was the most frequently used medication in treatment.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Marta María Pérez de Alejo Rodríguez, Lissette Ruiz Jorge, Eligio Barreto Fiu, Osmany Molina Concepción, Aldo de Jesús Pérez de Alejo Rodríguez
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