Current Rheumatology Reviews

Author(s): Carlos Ewerton Maia Rodrigues, Jozelio Freire Carvalho and Yehuda Shoenfeld

DOI: 10.2174/157339710790827678

Antiphospholipid Syndrome as a Neurological Disease

Page: [12 - 17] Pages: 6

  • * (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Abstract

Neurologic disorders are among the most comum and important clinical manifestations associated with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), mainly those that affects the central nervous system (CNS). These include sroke, transient ischemic attack, Sneddons syndrome, convulsions/epilepsy, dementia, cognitive deficits, headaches/migraine, chorea, multiple sclerosis-like, transverse myelitis, ocular symptoms and Guillain-Barre syndrome. On the other hand, only one study investigated the occurrence of peripheral neuropathy and showed alterations in 35 of PAPS patients. The proposed mechanisms of nervous system involvement in APS are: thrombosis, and antiphospholipid antibodiesbinding CNS, leading to deregulation of its functions. This article updates the data regarding the clinical aspects related to major neurologic manifestations associated to antiphospholipid syndrome.

Keywords: Antiphospholipid syndrome, Hughes'syndrome, antiphospholipid antibodies, neurological manifestations