Laboratory diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome

Abstract

Diagnosis of antiphosholipid syndrome (APS) is based on laboratory detection of antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies in patients with documented thrombosis or in women with pregnancy morbidity. Recently, both clinical and laboratory criteria were revised on the basis of an international consensus conference held in Sydney (1). The previous international consensus statement of one clinical and one laboratory criterion to diagnose APS was maintained (2) but time-lapse between the previous thromboembolism and laboratory diagnosis should not exceed 5 years. Moreover, laboratory tests should not be performed in the 12 weeks following the event to avoid any interference of the acute phase of the disease. Thus, laboratory evaluation of venous thromboembolism (VTE) should not be requested during the hospital stay as tests may be false-positive with no influence on the treatment regimen...