Mortality in the catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome: causes of death and prognostic factors

Silvia Bucciarelli; Ricard Cervera; Gerard Espinosa; José A Gómez-Puerta; Manuel Ramos-Casals; Josep Font

doi:10.1016/j.autrev.2006.06.007

Mortality in the catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome: causes of death and prognostic factors

Autoimmun Rev. 2006 Dec;6(2):72-5. doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2006.06.007. Epub 2006 Jul 21.

Authors

Silvia Bucciarelli¹, Ricard Cervera, Gerard Espinosa, José A Gómez-Puerta, Manuel Ramos-Casals, Josep Font

Affiliation

¹ Department of Autoimmune Diseases, Institut Clínic de Medicina i Dermatologia, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

PMID: 17138246
DOI: 10.1016/j.autrev.2006.06.007

Abstract

In order to know the causes of death and the prognostic factors, our group analyzed 250 patients included until February 2005 in the web-site based international registry of patients with catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) ("CAPS Registry") (http://www.med.ub.es/MIMMUN/FORUM/CAPS.HTM). Cerebral involvement, mainly consisting of stroke, followed by cardiac involvement and infections were considered the main causes of death in patients with catastrophic APS. The presence of systemic lupus erythematosus was related with higher mortality. According to the results of this analysis, anticoagulation plus steroids plus plasma exchange should be the first line of therapy in patients with catastrophic APS.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Age of Onset
Antiphospholipid Syndrome / complications
Antiphospholipid Syndrome / mortality*
Arrhythmias, Cardiac / etiology
Catastrophic Illness
Cause of Death
Heart Failure / etiology
Humans
Infections / etiology
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / complications
Prognosis
Stroke / etiology