antiphospholipid syndrome and gastrointestinal hemorrhage

Bleeding gastrointestinal angiodysplasia may occur in patients with vasculitis and can be challenging to treat. We describe the novel use of bevacizumab therapy to treat bleeding gastrointestinal angiodysplasia and severe anemia in a patient with eosinophilic granulomatosis with angiitis complicated by antiphospholipid antibody syndrome requiring indefinite warfarin therapy. Studies confirmed multiple bleeding jejunal angiodysplasias unamenable to endoscopic intervention, and the patient required ongoing support with iron infusions and blood transfusions to maintain a minimally acceptable hemoglobin...

INTRODUCTION: Intra-abdominal fat is a metabolically active tissue that can undergo necrosis due to torsion, infarction, or trauma. Despite being asymptomatic in most cases, fat necrosis or steatonecrosis can cause abdominal pain. Case . PRESENTATION: This article describes the case of a male patient admitted to the emergency department with diffuse abdominal pain for the past month. The patient had a past medical history of antiphospholipid syndrome with multiple venous thromboembolic events and one episode of lower limb vasculitis, currently under anticoagulation treatment...

INTRODUCTION: Immune thrombocytopenia is an autoimmune disorder associated with increased thrombocyte destruction and impaired production in the bone marrow. Proposed mechanisms include an antibody or autoreactive T-cell-associated autoimmunity and thrombopoietin deficiency among others. Clinical manifestations are predominantly mucocutaneous hemorrhages including petechiae, purpura, mucosal bleeding in the urinary or the gastrointestinal tracts, menorrhagia, and epistaxis. The purpose of the treatment is to prevent bleeding rather than normalizing the platelet counts...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence, associated factors, and impact on mortality of primary respiratory disease in a large systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) retrospective cohort. METHODS: All adult patients in the RELESSER-TRANS (Registry of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology [SER], cross-sectional phase) registry were retrospectively investigated for the presence of primary pleuropulmonary manifestations...

Systemic lupus erithematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with multiorgan involvement caused principally by vasculitis of small vessels. The gastrointestinal tract is one of the most frequently affected by SLE, with abdominal pain as the most common symptom. An early diagnosis and treatment of lupus enteritis is essential to avoid complications like hemorrhage or perforation, with up to 50 % of mortality rate. However, differential diagnosis sometimes is difficult, especially with other types of gastrointestinal diseases as digestive involvement of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), moreover when both entities may coexist...

Systemic lupus erithematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with multiorgan involvement caused principally by vasculitis of small vessels. The gastrointestinal tract is one of the most frequently affected by SLE, with abdominal pain as the most common symptom. An early diagnosis and treatment of lupus enteritis is essential to avoid complications like hemorrhage or perforation, with up to 50 % of mortality rate. However, differential diagnosis sometimes is difficult, especially with other types of gastrointestinal diseases as digestive involvement of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), moreover when both entities may coexist...

Critical Care Student/Resident Case Report Posters IISESSION TYPE: Medical Student/Resident Case ReportPRESENTED ON: Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at 01:30 PM - 02:30 PMINTRODUCTION: Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS) is an autoimmune condition that is primarily characterized by arterial or venous thrombosis associated with the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), resulting in multi-organ failure. Splenic infarction is uncommon. We report an unusual case of CAPS involving a patient who presented with hematemesis secondary to portal hypertension from splenic vein thrombosis...

Diagnosis criteria, pathogenic mechanisms, incidence and prevalence of the Antiphospholipid Syndrome are focused in a brief review. Hypoprothrombinemia (HPT) may be hereditary or acquired; the first is rare and with recessive autossomic transmission. We report the case of a 66-year-old white woman with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, periostitis, haematomas, bleeding leg ulcer and rectal haemorrhages; she had decreased levels of the prothrombin. Haemorrhagic episodes were related with the anti-prothrombin specificity of Lupus Anticoagulant (LA) detected...

Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune connective tissue disorder that affects multiple organs. While the clinical manifestations may vary in intensity over time and be associated with chronic disease, occasional cases occur where sudden and unexpected death has occurred. Cardiovascular disease is common, with accelerated atherosclerosis, intravascular thrombosis associated with antiphospholipid syndrome, and hypertensive cardiomegaly. Vasculitis with superimposed thrombosis may result in critical reduction in blood to vital organs, such as the heart and brain with infarction...

Autoimmune diseases present with varied and broad-ranging cutaneous manifestations. Connective tissue disorders have a plethora of skin manifestations such as rheumatoid nodules in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic plaques in psoriatic arthritis, acne and pustulosis in SAPHO syndrome, livedo reticularis and ulceration in antiphospholipid antibody syndrome and xerosis in Sjögren syndrome. Cutaneous manifestations of autoimmune vasculitides such as polyarteritis nodosa, Kawasaki disease, Henoch-Schönlein purpura, cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, Behcet disease, Wegener granulomatosis, microscopic polyangiitis and Churg-Strauss syndrome range from papules, subcutaneous nodules and livedo reticularis, to palpable purpura, hemorrhagic bulla and ulcerating lesions...

BACKGROUND: A 35-year-old woman with a past history of antiphospholipid syndrome and near-fatal vascular thrombosis was transferred to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, UK, for investigation of 'obscure' gastrointestinal bleeding in the context of long-term oral anticoagulation therapy. Initial endoscopic examination revealed isolated gastric varices with stigmata of recent hemorrhage. She had no prior history of liver disease or portal hypertension. Investigations to ascertain the cause of her varices were performed...

Bleeding is a rare manifestation of lupus anticoagulant-antiphospholipid syndrome unless associated with coagulation factor deficiency, thrombocytopenia, or intrinsic vascular defect. The authors report the clinical and laboratory findings in a 16-year-old boy with potent lupus anticoagulant who initially presented with recurrent epistaxis, hematuria, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Lupus anticoagulant potently inhibited assay systems for coagulation factors, but levels of factors II, IX, and XI appeared to be decreased (2-5% of mean normal levels)...

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) positive vasculitides are a heterogeneous group of disorders. They can be disabling multi-organ system conditions. Involvement of small and occasionally medium-sized blood vessels is generally the rule. Recent classification changes and advances in laboratory testing have made it easier to work up a patient suspected of having an ANCA-associated vasculitis. Syndromes can at times overlap, leaving a class of patient that does not fit into one specific group. Patients frequently present with a myriad of symptoms ranging from sore throat, fever, athralgias and myalgias, to overt hemorrhage and/or renal failure...

The antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APA) is characterized by an increased incidence of venous and arterial thrombosis. APA syndrome has some gastroenterological manifestations such as Budd-Chiari syndrome, hepatic infarction, esophageal necrosis, intestinal ischemia, pancreatitis and colonic ulceration. We report a 34-year-old man with APA syndrome complicated by hepatic venous thrombosis (Budd-Chiari) and colonic ulcers. The clinical and laboratory findings were compatible with APA syndrome that developed secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus...

Gastrointestinal hemorrhage is an exceptional complication of antiphospholipid syndrome and most reported cases are secondary to ischemic lesions. Brunner's gland hyperplasia is an infrequent and usually asymptomatic condition that has been associated with chronic renal failure. We report a patient with primary antiphospholipid syndrome who, after mechanic heart valve replacement and while in a state of drug-induced anticoagulation, experienced a life-threatening upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to nodular hyperplasia of Brunner's glands...

OBJECTIVE: During ovulation induction (OI), ovarian stimulation is accomplished by hormonal manipulation, which includes administration of gonadotropins, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone. In in vitro fertilization (IVF), progesterone is often added. Because of the possibility of hormone-associated flare or thrombosis, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and primary antiphospholipid syndrome (primary APS) undergoing OI/IVF are potentially at increased risk...

The main lesion of the collagen diseases involves blood-connective tissue, so every collagen disease is a accompanied by gastrointestinal bleeding to some degrees. The concept of systemic vasculitis had been confused, but recently, the criteria for each disease has been established. In addition to these vasculitis, antiphospholipid syndrome, amyloidosis, NSAIDs, steroid and secondary infection caused by the use of immunosuppressant are the candidates for the cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in the collagen diseases...

We describe a patient with a 3-year history of recurrent deep vein thromboses (DVT) of the lower limbs, who developed adrenal insufficiency following withdrawal of warfarin therapy. Multiple splinter haemorrhages of the nail beds were evident, simultaneous with the development of adrenal infarction in the absence of infective endocarditis. CT scans of the adrenal glands were consistent with bilateral adrenal infarctions. The patient had persistently high titres of IgG anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) over the previous 4 years in the absence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), antibodies to double stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (dsDNA) or extractable nuclear antigens (ENA)...

A case of idiopathic myelofibrosis and hepatosplenic myeloid metaplasia associated with antiphospholipids antibodies is described. The patient developed a lethal complete splenic vein thrombosis in spite of an intravenously heparin treatment had been started soon after a clinical pattern of "acute abdomen".