title: Update on the catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome and the "CAPS Registry".
abstract: Although less than 1% of patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) develop the catastrophic variant known as catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS), its potentially lethal outcome emphasizes its importance in clinical medicine today. However, the rarity of this variant makes it extraordinarily difficult to study in any systematic way. To collate all the published case reports as well as the newly diagnosed cases from all over the world, an international registry of patients with CAPS ("CAPS Registry") was created in 2000 by the European Forum on Antiphospholipid Antibodies (www.med.ub.es/MIMMUN/FORUM/CAPS.HTM). Currently, this database documents the entire clinical, laboratory, and therapeutic data of more than 350 fully registered patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Autoimmune Diseases, Hospital Clínic, Villaroel 170, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. rcervera@clinic.ub.es
authors.forename: Ricard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cervera
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Espinosa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016736:Antiphospholipid Syndrome / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D002388:Catastrophic Illness / Q000145:classification; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications; D012042:Registries; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000150:complications; D055815:Young Adult