[Diagnosis and management for antiphospholipid syndrome].

It has been reported that antiphospholipid antibodies have the diversity against epitopes and the clinical significance, while the concept of antiphospholipid syndrome has been established. Dr. Harris and Dr. Hughes proposed the diagnostic criteria for antiphospholipid syndrome, and their criteria were widely used. Thrombosis, recurrent fetal loss (intrauterine fetal death), thrombocytopenia, IgG anticardiolipin antibodies and lupus anticoagulants were adopted in their criteria. However, recent studies have revealed the evaluation of the standardization of the methods to detect antiphospholipid antibodies and the clinical significance of both anti-cardiolipin-beta 2-GPI complex antibodies and other isotypes of antiphospholipid antibodies. Thus, the preliminary classification criteria for antiphospholipid syndrome have been discussed. It has been reported that anticoagulation therapy is effective in the management of antiphospholipid syndrome by the recent retrospective studies. It is necessary to confirm these points by the prospective study in the near future.