anticardiolipin antibodies in pregnancy induced hypertension

ABSTRACT

Forty preeclamptic patients with variable degrees of severity, were assessed for the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies. This study aimed at correlating the obtained values, with the severity of the disease process, as well as the occurrence of complications [fetal loss and/or eclampsia]. Mild, severe, and noncomplicated cases showed levels that were not statistically different from the control cases. However, the values obtained in cases complicated with fetal loss had unequivocally high anticardiolipin antibody levels. The difference from other noncomplicated and control patients was highly significant [P <0.001]. Thus, it was concluded that anticardiolipin antibody measurement in preeclamptic patients is of value in predicting fetal loss, while its predictive power regarding the course of the disease is unclear