A review of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome

To review the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and management options for antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS), a potentially life-threatening coagulation disorder.

Selected scientific literature, consensus guidelines, and expert opinion.

Clinical features that should alert the clinician to consider APS include recurrent fetal loss, arterial or venous thrombosis, thrombocytopenia and livedo reticularis. One should be suspicious of this diagnosis in a younger patient, one with an autoimmune disease, or family history of autoimmune disease. To confirm the diagnosis one needs both clinical and laboratory abnormalities.

The signs and symptoms of APS are varied and could be confused with many disorders. The primary care provider needs to be aware of this syndrome in order to include it in the differential diagnosis and appropriately recognize and refer the patient in a timely manner.