Symptoms and Treatment of Antiphospholipid Syndrome

By antiphospholipid syndrome in medicine is understood such a violation, in which the immune system mistakenly begins to produce antibodies directed against some normal blood proteins. This situation subsequently often provokes the formation of blood clots, as well as complications during pregnancy (miscarriage, the birth of a dead fetus, etc.). In this article, we will talk about the main symptoms of this problem, and also consider what should be the treatment of antiphospholipid syndrome.

Main reasons

As noted above, with this syndrome, the immune system itself damages proteins that bind phospholipids (these are fats that are present in the blood and are very important for normal clotting). At the moment, specialists conditionally distinguish two types of this problem:

• Primary - is caused by infections or some diseases (for example, HIV, malaria, hepatitis C, etc.).
• The secondary type is usually observed in patients who have previously been diagnosed with any autoimmune diseases. So, in this case, the development of an antiphospholipid syndrome can be caused by a primary autoimmune disorder.

Symptoms

Today, experts identify several characteristic signs of antiphospholipid syndrome. Below are just a few of them:

• Formation of blood clots in the veins of the legs;
• Birth of a dead fetus, frequent miscarriages or other complications during pregnancy;
• stroke;
• Regular headaches, cramps;
• Rash on the skin in the form of a grid;
• Cardiovascular diseases ;
• Bleeding.

Antiphospholipid syndrome. Diagnostics

According to experts, such a violation can be suspected in patients under 45 years old, if they have already been diagnosed with stroke or myocardial infarction. In this case, doctors strongly recommend a complete examination to confirm or, conversely, to refute a problem such as antiphospholipid syndrome. Analyzes in this situation play far from the last role. Thus, laboratory confirmation of the disease is the presence of antibodies to various kinds of phospholipids by means of so-called immune-enzyme analysis.

What should be the treatment?

First of all it is necessary to find out the primary disease, which directly led to the development of antiphospholipid syndrome. The effectiveness of this therapy is to reduce the amount of antibodies to phospholipids. In addition, prescribe drugs that are responsible for reducing coagulation The ability of blood (for example, antiaggregants), as well as antihistamines (reduce allergic mood). If in the laboratory conditions an increased content of antibodies in the blood was detected , as a consequence, there is a threat of acute thrombosis. In this kind of situation, plasmapheresis is most commonly prescribed. Women with such a diagnosis need timely diagnosis and full control over pregnancy. To avoid the development of complications in some cases, medications are prescribed.