Bleeding in the antiphospholipid syndrome.

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disease characterized clinically by the occurrence of venous or arterial thrombosis, and/or pregnancy morbidity. The detection of persistently elevated levels of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) is a requisite laboratory feature for the diagnosis of APS. The positivity for at least one aPL test: lupus anticoagulant and/or IgG/IgM anticardiolipin and/ or IgG/IgM anti-ß2 glycoprotein I antibodies must be detected. Sometimes aPL coagulopathy may start with a hemorrhagic syndrome when a severe thrombocytopenia, or an acquired thrombocytopathy, or an acquired factor VIII inhibitor, or an acquired prothrombin deficiency is present. aPL-associated thrombocytopenia is usually moderate without clinical manifestations. Except in the occasional situations in which thrombocytopenia is associated with thrombotic microangiopathy, such as catastrophic APS, bleeding is uncommon in APS patients. When platelet counts are less than 30 × 109/L and there are symptoms of bleeding, the treatments used are the same for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. In rare occasions a hemorrhagic diathesis due to the occurrence of non-neutralizing anti-prothrombin antibodies causing severe hypoprothrombinemia (HPT) can be observed. Levels of prothrombin in plasma are less than 10-20% in cases with HPT-related bleeding requiring transfusion and/or corticosteroid treatment. The APS mainly causes thrombosis, and pregnancy losses. However, other clinical manifestations are also associated with the presence of persistent autoimmune aPL. Bleeding is uncommon but can be the first clinical manifestation in patients having severe thrombocytopenia or prothrombin deficiency.

Diagnosis of lupus anticoagulant in the lupus anticoagulant-hypoprothrombinemia syndrome: report of two cases and review of the literature.

We report a severe hemorrhagic disorder in two pediatric patients with lupus anticoagulant (LA) associated to acquired factor II (prothrombin) deficiency. In both patients, hemorrhagic symptoms resolved after corticosteroid therapy. Serial coagulation studies showed that Staclot LA assay was more sensitive than DVVconfirm and Staclot PNP tests to confirm the presence of LA when associated with severe factor II deficiency. Both patients had non-neutralizing anti-prothrombin antibodies and their titers inversely correlated with factor II activity (r = -1.0, P < 0.0001). Associated findings in these patients included positive immunologic tests for systemic lupus erythematosus, a positive anti-cardiolipin antibody, and anti-beta(2) GPI antibodies in one case. Our findings point out the difficulty in diagnosing LA associated with acquired factor II deficiency and suggest that, in confirmation of its phospholipid dependency, the inclusion of a source of normal human plasma in the test sequence to correct for any factor deficiency and a confirmatory step utilizing hexagonal (II) phase phospholipids may be crucial to the diagnosis of LA in some patients with LA-hypoprothrombinemia syndrome.

Hypoprothrombinemia and severe hemorrhage associated with a lupus anticoagulant.

We recently encountered a previously healthy 3-year-old girl who had severe bleeding resulting from a severe deficiency of prothrombin. A lupus anticoagulant was identified by several different methods. The patient was successfully treated with glucocorticoids. This rare complication of a lupus anticoagulant should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a previously well child who suddenly has hemorrhage.

Hemoperitoneo masivo, deficiencia endógena de protrombina y poliquistosis ovárica / Massive hemoperitoneum: prothrombin indogenous deficiency and policystic ovary

Una paciente adulta padece exostosis cartilaginosa congénita múltiple y una coagulopatía, hipoprotombinemia (factor II:C 5-15%) con disprotrombinemia. También se le determinó baja la progesterona sérica y por ecografía sus ovarios estuvieron crecidos y con múltiples lesiones ecolúcidas compatibles con quistes. Dentro de su estudio multidisciplinario, no se logró que corrigiera sus defectos de la hemostasia con transfusión de cantidades importantes de plasma. En marzo de 1984 la paciente tuvo un hemoperitoneo de 2,000 ml. Debido a que se conocían sus características fue posible efectuar diagnóstico y tratamiento oportunos. Se comentan los resultados del tratamiento substitutivo intensivo para su coagulopatía y la rareza de la asociación de deficiencias de protrombina endógena, poliquistosis ovárica y hemoperitoneo masivo por ovulación normal