[Clinical value of determining the levels of lupus anticoagulant and anti-cardiolipin antibodies].

The authors present some literature and their own data on the antiphospholipid syndrome (venous and arterial thromboses; obstetric pathology: spontaneous abortions and intrauterine death of a fetus; CNS involvement: from headaches and disorientation to psychic disorders and cerebral infarctions; thrombocytopenia, early aseptic osteonecrosis and pulmonary hypertension). Altogether 58 patients with lupus erythematosus and 20 patients with a complicated obstetric history were examined. Lupoid anticoagulant and antibodies to cardiolipin were revealed in 27 patients. The determination of antiphospholipid antibodies was shown to be of practical value from the view-point of the knowledge of humoral immunity disorders in systemic lupus erythematosus, more detailed clinico-laboratory characterization of patients, the diagnosis and prediction of disorders of the blood coagulation system, and the development of obstetric pathology.