ABSTRACT

The term “antiphospholipid syndrome” (APS) (1) refers to patients with the combination of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) and a history of clinical events consistent with the syndrome (2). Most of the clinical events in APS are thrombotic in nature. The term is descriptive rather than pathologically based and there is no gold-standard diagnostic test. The antiphospholipid syndrome can occur independently, thus primary APS (PAPS) (3), or in association with other autoimmune syndromes such as systemic lupus erythematosis, thus secondary APS (SAPS).