Significance of elevated aanticardiolipin antibodies in children with protal vein thrombosis

Portal vein thrombosis [PVT] is characterized by obscure obstruction of the portal vein somewhere along its course between the hilum of spleen and portahepatis though hypercoagulable states are implicated in the causation of PVT, the etiology remains unknown in most cases. Anticardioitpin antibodies [a CL] are autoantibodies, whose presence is a known cause of hypercoagulable state. In view of the strong association of aCL with thrombosis, we estimated the levels of aCL-JgG and 1gM in 25 children suffering from PVT with age ranged from 3.5 to 12.0 years with the mean +/- SD 6.9 +/- 2.7 to evaluate the role of aCL in the pathogenesis and causation of PVT. An indirect ELISA technique was used for the assay. Values exceeding the mean+2SD [cut-off value] of healthy controls were taken as abnormal. The study revealed that the levels of aCL, specially the IgG were significantly elevated [p<0.01] in patients with PVT in comparison to the control group [the mean values +/- SD were 12.94 +/- 6.56 versus 6.75 +/- 2.19 GPLU/ml] while there was a mild non-sigi4flcanr increase of aCL-IgM than the control [the mean values +/- SD were 1.60 +/- 2.25 versus 1.05 +/- 0.66 MPL U/ml] [p> 0.05]. Also the levels of aCL-lgG were above the cut-off value of the normal control in 13 patients [52%]. We found significant thrombocytopenia in children with PVT, the mean value +/- SD was 114.36 +/- 89.39 thousand/cmm, while that of the control was 240.1 +/- 45.47 thousand/cmm. In conclusion, aCL may have a role in the pathogenesis and causation of PVT, and it should be included in the investigation list of causes of PVT in children, as these patients may get benefit from the long-term use of anticoagulants