Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0151744 (myocardial ischemia)
 31,282 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Having reviewed the literature on the association of aPL antibodies with clinical manifestations, it is clear that this group of autoantibodies are of considerable importance. The presence of aPL antibodies in some but not all individuals confers a risk of a clinical syndrome characterized by recurrent arterial or venous thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, hemolytic anemia, or positive Coombs' test, and in females, recurrent idiopathic fetal loss. In SLE, the risk is approximately 40%, compared with a risk of 15% in the absence of aPL antibodies. However, only one half of persons possessing these antibodies have SLE, and overall the risk is around 30%. In some circumstances, such as in chlorpromazine or infection-associated aPL antibodies, there appears to be no increased risk. At the other end of the spectrum are seen patients whose only clinical manifestations comprise features of this clinical syndrome, and this entity has been designated the primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS). aPL antibodies are also important because they are not uncommon. They have been found frequently in women with idiopathic recurrent fetal loss (30%), in non-autoimmune patients with ischemic heart disease (20%), or venous thrombosis (up to 30%), or stroke (4-47%), and in chronic immune thrombocytopenia (30%). These autoantibodies can be detected using sensitive solid-phase immunoassays employing the CL antigen, or in appropriate coagulation tests to detect LA activity. These assays are simple to perform but require care in selection of the best test and in interpretation of results. Current tests do not distinguish between those persons at risk of the clinical events and those not at risk. Detection of specific isotypes (especially IgG) and antibody level may aid in such a designation. Treatment of aPL antibody-associated syndromes remains a controversial subject. Since thromboses are associated with significant morbidity and potential mortality, there is a good argument for long-term preventive antithrombotic therapy, at least for as long as the antibodies are detectable, in those patients in whom clinical complications have previously occurred. It is not generally recommended that this treatment be offered to individuals in whom aPL antibodies are detected but who have not suffered previous thromboses, since the risk of such events does not appear to be equal within a group of aPL antibody-positive persons. This particularly applies to pregnant women, since live births and uncomplicated pregnancies are observed regularly in the presence of aPL antibodies without specific treatment. A previous history of at least one unexplained, late fetal loss is considered a prerequisite before intervention in subsequent pregnancies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Immunology and clinical importance of antiphospholipid antibodies. 185 85

Recurrent thrombosis, abortion and thrombocytopenia are the most frequent manifestation of antiphospholipid syndrome, which usually presents antibodies against some anionic phospholipids. A few years ago, this syndrome was considered as a manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus; nowadays it is classified as an isolated systemic lupus erythematosus; nowadays it is classified as an isolated autoimmune disease. Hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origin of antiphospholipid antibodies, including infectious and autoimmune diseases with high titles of anticardiolipin antibodies. Genetic factors have also been involved. Laboratory tests of choice for the detection of anticardiolipin antibodies are RIA and ELISA tests; there are some structural differences among them depending on the underlying disease. Hypercoagulability and recurrent thrombosis are the main features of this entity; ischemic heart disease is in this context of outmost importance. Despite the lack of any clinically demonstrated association between antiphospholipid syndrome and ischemic heart disease, there are many "in vitro" studies that support this possibility.
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PMID:[Antiphospholipid syndrome and cardiovascular disease]. 210 94

We studied 24 patients (18 women, 6 men), aged 29 to 54, with Sneddon's syndrome. The clinical picture of Sneddon's syndrome was characterized by cerebrovascular disorders, livedo reticularis, disturbance of peripheral circulation, arterial hypertension, cardiac pathology (ischemic heart disease, heart murmurs), complicated obstetric history in women, and disturbed sexual function in men. In 6 of 17 examined patients with Sneddon's syndrome there was a high concentration of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) but no antibodies to native DNA and LE cells. The course of the disease in the patients with a high ACA level, when compared with normal ACA level patients, was characterized by a more rapid progression and more severe clinical manifestations. The study demonstrates the similarity of clinical symptoms and immunologic disturbances in Sneddon's syndrome and the antiphospholipid syndrome and suggests the importance of ACA in the pathogenesis of some cases of Sneddon's syndrome.
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PMID:Anticardiolipin antibodies in Sneddon's syndrome. 231 89

Of 20 patients with antiphospholipid syndrome 6 were found clinically and upon special tests to have signs of ischemic heart disease. All the 6 had shifts in lipid spectrum of plasma. It is important to study coronary pathology in antiphospholipid syndrome to elucidate mechanisms underlying thrombosis and vascular atherosclerosis in human diseases.
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PMID:[The manifestations of IHD and the status of the coronary arteries in patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome]. 877 98

Vasospasm can have many different causes and can occur in a variety of diseases, including infectious, autoimmune, and ophthalmic diseases, as well as in otherwise healthy subjects. We distinguish between the primary vasospastic syndrome and secondary vasospasm. The term "vasospastic syndrome" summarizes the symptoms of patients having such a diathesis as responding with spasm to stimuli like cold or emotional stress. Secondary vasospasm can occur in a number of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome, rheumatoid polyarthritis, giant cell arteritis, Behcet's disease, Buerger's disease and preeclampsia, and also in infectious diseases such as AIDS. Other potential causes for vasospasm are hemorrhages, homocysteinemia, head injury, acute intermittent porphyria, sickle cell disease, anorexia nervosa, Susac syndrome, mitochondriopathies, tumors, colitis ulcerosa, Crohn's disease, arteriosclerosis and drugs. Patients with primary vasospastic syndrome tend to suffer from cold hands, low blood pressure, and even migraine and silent myocardial ischemia. Valuable diagnostic tools for vasospastic diathesis are nailfold capillary microscopy and angiography, but probably the best indicator is an increased plasma level of endothelin-1. The eye is frequently involved in the vasospastic syndrome, and ocular manifestations of vasospasm include alteration of conjunctival vessels, corneal edema, retinal arterial and venous occlusions, choroidal ischemia, amaurosis fugax, AION, and glaucoma. Since the clinical impact of vascular dysregulation has only really been appreciated in the last few years, there has been little research in the according therapeutic field. The role of calcium channel blockers, magnesium, endothelin and glutamate antagonists, and gene therapy are discussed.
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PMID:Vasospasm, its role in the pathogenesis of diseases with particular reference to the eye. 1128 96

Antibodies to phospholipids (APL) were studied in 97 patients which had ischemic stroke in young age (up to 46 years). These antibodies (Abs) were found in 25 patients (26%): Abs to cardiolipin--in 15 patients (60%), Abs to lupoid anticoagulant in 18 from 24 patients (75%), Abs to phosphatidylethanolamine--in 4 from 13 patients (31%). Disorders of cerebral circulation (DCC) usually began at the age of 14-45 years and were characterized by ischemic strokes and by transitory DCC. There was no correlation between the occlusion of extracranial arteries and their hemodynamic significant stenosis. There was occlusion of intracranial arteries in 7 from 12 patients (58%). Other risk factors of the stroke development were also found in 19 patients (76%) together with Abs to phopholipids. Other manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome (APLS) were observed in 68% of the patients: miscarriage of pregnancy (63%), thrombosis of peripheric veins (16%), thrombocytopenia (32%), ischemic heart disease (28%). Comparison of APL+ and APL- patients revealed that transitory DCC, occlusion of intracranial arteries, intact extracranial arteries, widening or condensation of the cardial valves on echo-ECG, abortions, increase of ESR were significantly more frequently observed in the former group. For confirmation of APLS diagnosis it was necessary to study simultaneously Abs to cardiolipin and lupoid anticoagulant. Prophylaxis of repeated DCC in APLS included administration of both aspirin and anticoagulants of indirect action.
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PMID:[Antibodies to phospholipids and ischemic disorders of cerebral circulation in young age]. 1151 79

Hyperactivity of coagulation factor VIII (fVIII) marks hypercoagulation. FVIII enhances activity of factor IX and their combination activates factor X, which is of primary importance in prothrombin transformation into thrombin, on the phospholipid membrane. The activity of fVIII was studied in 28 patients (26 women, 2 men, mean age 49.6 +/- 7.8 years) with Sneddon's syndrome (SS). SS manifests clinically similarly to primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAS). The leading of them are ischemic disorders of cerebral circulation (IDCC) and advanced livedo present in all the examinees. Hyperactivity of fVIII was registered in 21 (75%) of 28 patients. Most of thrombosis-related symptoms occurred more frequently in patients with high than normal activity of fVIII: ischemic strokes (91% vs 57%, p > 0.05), repeated strokes (71% vs 0%, p = 0.0014), transient IDCC (76% vs 57%, p > 0.05), vascular dementia (43% vs 0%, p > 0.05), ischemic heart disease (43% vs 0%, p > 0.05), thickening of heart valves according to echocardiography (91% vs 57%, p > 0.05), peripheral venous thromboses (24% vs 0%, p > 0.05). In high fVIII activity cardiolipin antibodies occurred more rarely (24% vs 43%, p > 0.05) but lupus anticoagulant was seen more often (47% vs 14%, p > 0.05). High fVIII activity was in 8 of 12 aPL-negative patients. It is demonstrated that elevated fVIII activity is an essential mechanism of thrombosis development in SS. The cause of this enhanced activity is suggested to be special aPL in interaction with which fVIII becomes insensitive to inactivation with protein C. The activity of protein C was normal in all the cases.
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PMID:[Clotting factor VIII in Sneddon syndrome]. 1459 91

Systematic evaluations of anemia, thrombocytopenia, and coagulopathy are essential to identifying and managing their causes successfully. In all cases, clinicians should evaluate RBC measurements alongside WBC and platelet counts and WBC differentials. Multiple competing factors may coexist; certain factors affect RBCs independent of those that affect WBCs or platelets. Ideally, clinicians should examine the peripheral blood smear for morphologic features of RBCs, WBCs, and platelets that provide important clues to the cause of the patient's hematologic disorder. Thrombocytopenia arises from decreased platelet production, increased platelet destruction, or dilutional or distributional causes. Drug-induced thrombocytopenias present diagnostic challenges, because many medicines can cause thrombocytopenia and critically ill patients often receive multiple medications. If they suspect type II HIT, clinicians must promptly discontinue all heparin sources, including LMWHs, without awaiting laboratory confirmation, to avoid thrombotic sequelae. Because warfarin anticoagulation induces acquired protein C deficiency, thereby exacerbating the prothrombotic state of type II HIT, warfarin should be withheld until platelet counts increase to more than 100,000/microL and type II HIT is clearly resolving. The presence of a consumptive coagulopathy in the setting of thrombocytopenia supports a diagnosis of DIC, not TTP-HUS, and is demonstrated by decreasing serum fibrinogen levels, and increasing TTs, PTs, aPTTs, and fibrin degradation products. Increasing D-dimer, levels are the most specific DIC parameter and reflect fibrinolysis of cross-linked fibrin. Elevated PTs or a PTTs can result from the absence of factors or the presence of inhibitors. Clinicians should suspect factor inhibitors when the prolonged PT or aPTT does not correct or only partially corrects following an immediate assay of a 1:1 mix of patient and normal plasma. In addition to factor inhibitors, antiphospholipid antibodies (e.g., lupus anticoagulant) can produce a prolonged aPTT that does not correct with normal plasma but is overcome by adding excess phospholipid or platelets. Paradoxically, a tendency to thrombosis, not bleeding, accompanies lupus anticoagulants and the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. Transfusion of red blood cells, platelets, or plasma products is sometimes warranted, but clinicians must carefully weigh potential benefits against known risks. In critically ill patients, administering RBCs can enhance oxygen delivery to tissues. Among euvolemic patients who do not have ischemic heart disease, guidelines recommend a transfusion threshold of HGB levels in the range of 6.0 to 8.0 g/dL; patients who have HGB that is at least 10.0 g/dL are unlikely to benefit from blood transfusion. The use of rHuEPO to increase erythropoiesis offers an alternative to RBC transfusion, assuming normal, responsive progenitor cells and adequate iron, folate, and cobalamin stores. Future research should examine whether clinical outcomes from rHuEPO use in critically ill patients are important and cost-effective. Because platelets play an instrumental role in primary hemostasis, platelet transfusions are often important in managing patients who are bleeding or at risk of bleeding with thrombocytopenia or impaired platelet function. Platelet transfusions carry risks, and decisions to transfuse platelets must consider clinical circumstances. Most important, platelet transfusions are generally contraindicated if the underlying disorder is TTP or type II HIT, because platelet transfusion in these settings may fuel thrombosis and worsen clinical signs and symptoms. Plasma products can correct hemostasis when bleeding arises from malfunction, consumption, or underproduction of plasma coagulation proteins. Choice of plasma product for transfusion depends on clinical circumstances. FFP is the most commonly used plasma product to correct clotting factor deficiencies, particularly coagulopathies that are attributable to multiple clotting factor deficiency states as in liver disease, DIC, or warfarin anticoagulation. PCC or rFVIIa that is administered in small volumes may provide advantages over FFP when coagulopathies require quick reversal without risk of volume overload. Factor concentrates can replace specific factor deficiencies. Recombinant FVIIa bypasses inhibitors to factors VIII and IX and vWF. Use of rFVIIa in managing hemostatic abnormalities from severe liver dysfunction; extensive surgery, trauma, or bleeding; excessive warfarin anticoagulation; and certain platelet disorders requires further study to determine optimal and cost-effective dosing regimens. Recombinant activated protein C reduces mortality from severe sepsis that is associated with organ dysfunction in adults who are at high risk for death (APACHE scores of at least 25). In severe sepsis, levels of protein C decrease, as do fibrinogen and platelet levels. Because of its anticoagulant effect, however, drotrecogin alfa may induce bleeding. Guidelines for drotrecogin alfa use must take into account bleeding risks.
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PMID:Critical issues in hematology: anemia, thrombocytopenia, coagulopathy, and blood product transfusions in critically ill patients. 1471 Jun 93

The authors propose a method of estimating antiphospholipid activity of blood by phospholipids (PL) assays in circulating immune complexes (CIC). Screening of PL in CIC is an additional test in examination of patients with ischemic heart disease associated with thrombogenic complications and suspected antiphospholipid syndrome.
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PMID:[Antiphospholipid activity of the blood in patients with ischemic heart disease and thrombogenic complications]. 1497 Nov 53

The etiology of valvular heart diseases (VHD) has changed in the last 50 years in the industrialized countries. A significant reduction in the incidence of rheumatic fever and its sequelae, increase in life expectancy, recognition of new causes of VHD and advancement in technology are responsible for the metamorphosis of the etiology of VHD. Heritable disorders of connective tissue (marfan syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, adult polycystic kidney disease, floppy mitral valve/mitral valve prolapse); congenital heart disease (bicuspid aortic valve); inflammatory/immunologic disorders (rheumatic fever, AIDS, Kawasaki disease, syphilis, seronegative spondyloarthropathies, systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome); endocardial disorders (nonbacteremic thrombotic endocarditis, infective endocarditis, endomyocardial fibroelastosis); myocardial dysfunction (ischemic heart disease, dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy); diseases and disorders of other organs (chronic renal failure, carcinoid heart disease); aging (calcific aortic stenosis, mitral annular calcification); postinterventional valvular disease; drugs and physical agents are all clinical entities associated with VHD. It should be emphasized that VHDs still constitute a major health problem which will increase with the aging population.
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PMID:Etiology of valvular heart disease. 1503 Feb 51


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