title: Monitoring anticoagulant therapy with vitamin K antagonists in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.
abstract: Because of the possible interference of antiphospholipid antibodies (APL) with the phospholipid component of thromboplastin reagents, concerns have been raised about the validity of international normalized ratio (INR) testing to monitor anticoagulant therapy with vitamin K antagonists in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). To investigate the reliability of the INR, we determined the INR using various prothrombin time (PT) assays and compared the results with those of a chromogenic factor X (CFX) assay. The study cohort consisted of 40 APS patients and 100 APL-negative patients who were on anticoagulant therapy for reasons other than APS. The agreement (i.e. the percentage of patients with a difference ≤0.5 INR units) between the PT-derived INR and CFX-derived INR equivalents was only moderate in both patient groups. The best agreement with CFX-derived INR equivalents was observed for the Thromborel S reagent in APS patients (69.1 %) and for Neoplastin Plus in APL-negative patients (72.0 %). Regarding the results for the point-of-care system CoaguChek XS, an agreement between the INR and the CFX-derived INR equivalent was less frequently observed in the APS patients (55.6 vs. 67.8 %; p = 0.050). When considering all 3058 pairs of INR tests within the international sensitivity index (ISI)-calibrated range of 1.5 to 4.5 s, we did not observe a higher variability of INR values in either the APS patient group or the subgroup of APS patients positive for lupus coagulants compared with the APL-negative controls. In conclusion, monitoring vitamin K antagonists (VKA) therapy with laboratory INR measurements seems to be suitable for the majority of APS patients.
authors: Division of Vascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Goethe University Hospital, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
authors: Mecki
authors: M
authors: Isert
authors: Wolfgang
authors: W
authors: Miesbach
authors: Gundolf
authors: G
authors: Schüttfort
authors: Yvonne
authors: Y
authors: Weil
authors: Vanessa
authors: V
authors: Tirneci
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Kasper
authors: Adele
authors: A
authors: Weber
authors: Edelgard
authors: E
authors: Lindhoff-Last
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Herrmann
authors: Birgit
authors: B
authors: Linnemann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000097:blood* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016736:Antiphospholipid Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D001777:Blood Coagulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D019934:International Normalized Ratio / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011517:Prothrombin Time / Q000379:methods; D011817:Rabbits; D014812:Vitamin K / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D014812:Vitamin K