ABSTRACT
Several groups of pulmonary complications have been documented in patients with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), both in the context of systemic lupus erythematosus and in the "primary" antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). Pulmonary embolism and infarction are the most frequent and representative pulmonary manifestations in patients with the APS. In addition to embolism, infarction, and pulmonary hypertension (PHT), the patients might encompass microvascular thrombosis or alveolar hemorrhage. Since the discovery of the aPL and the broad spectrum of clinical complications associated with the patients presence, it has become clear that recurrent deep venous thrombosis are the most common vascular occlusive events encountered in patients with the antibodies. Pulmonary microthrombosis was originally postulated in 1986 as a cause of PHT in patients without signs of overt thromboembolic disease. Histopathological analysis of lung specimens obtained either by biopsy or from autopsy specimens from patients with PHT are scarce.
