[Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome: a case report. Clinical considerations]

The association of thrombosis, recurrent abortion, thrombocytopenia and antiphospholipid antibodies defines a recently discovered syndrome known as "antiphospholipid syndrome". The mentioned autoantibodies are directed against the negatively charged phospholipids of the clotting cascade and can be detected by the phospholipid-dependent prolongation of some coagulation tests "in vitro". Despite these results "in vitro", patients suffering from this syndrome present a hypercoagulable state, of which these antibodies seem to be the "marker" or intimately connected in some way with the highly complex coagulation mechanisms resulting in thrombotic occlusions. The following case of antiphospholipid syndrome also showed the typical manifestations of some other symptoms such as neurological and ocular diseases and a chronic cardiomyopathy with severe ventricular dysfunction, which could not be ascribed to any detectable vascular occlusions. This made our case original and much more interesting and induced us to make clear its "expanded" clinical manifestations that, as recently reported in literature, may now be included under the broad umbrella of the antiphospholipid syndrome.