engleski

Results of lupus anticoagulant investigation in unselective population of patients referred for testing

Background Laboratory evaluation of lupus anticoagulant (LA) antiphospholipid antibodies is an integral part of the diagnostic criteria for antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). Aim The aim of this study was to analyze the results of laboratory evaluation of LA antibodies in unselected patients referred for testing during a period of two consecutive years (from January 2015 to December 2016). Methods LA antibodies were evaluated by a panel of commercial coagulation assays (Siemens, Germany) including three screening tests: activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), APTT mixing test, dilute Russell´s viper venom time (dRVVT) screen test (LA1) and confirmation test (LA2). Results The prevalences of positive LA results in unselected consecutive patients referred for testing were: 26/810 (3.2%) in 2015 and 24/878 (2.7%) in 2016 with the overall prevalence of 50/1688 (3.0%) for the period of two years. There were 26 female and 24 male patients with positive LA results, with a median age of 40 years (95%CI for median 37-48 yrs ; interquartile range 29-59 yrs). Among all LA positives, venous thromboembolism (VTE) accounted for more than a half of all cases (28/50), including positive LA result in 25 cases of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and in 3 cases of pulmonary embolism (PE). The prevalences of other clinical diagnoses among all LA positive results were as followed: cerebrovascular insult (3), varicose veins (2), cardiovascular disease (2), transient ichemic attack (2), miscarriage (2), infertility (1), autoimune haemolytic anemia (2), systemic lupus erythematodes (2), rheumatoid arthritis (2), epilepsy (1), vasculitis (1), hemiplegia (1) and urticaria (1). Conclusion Laboratory investigation of LA antibodies among unselected consecutive patients referred for testing has shown an overall prevalence of 3.0%. As expected, VTE accounted for most of the positive LA results. However, beside of VTE patients, there were a number of other clinical diagnoses with positive LA results.

lupus anticoagulant, antiphospholipid antibodies, thrombophilia testing

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