title: Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome: therapeutic developments.
abstract: The catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome is a potentially life-threatening condition with a high mortality rate, the diagnosis of which requires a high degree of clinical awareness on the part of attending physicians. Patients with this syndrome have various symptoms in common: clinical evidence of multiple organ involvement developed over a very short time period, histopathological evidence of multiple small-vessel occlusions and laboratory confirmation of the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies, usually in high titers. The combination of high doses of intravenous heparin, steroids, gamma-globulins and/or repeated plasma exchanges are the basic treatment of choice for all patients with this severe condition.
authors.affiliation: Servei de Malalties Autoimmunes, Hospital Clínic, Villarroel 170, 08036-Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. rcervera@clinic.ub.es
authors.forename: Ricard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cervera
authors.forename: Ronald A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Asherson