Anticardiolipin antibodies and occlusive vascular disease of the eye: prospective study.

There is a recognized association between the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies and vascular occlusive disease. The purpose of our study is to detect the presence of high titers of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) in the serum and to correlate the titers with the severity of the vascular disease in patients with occlusive ocular vascular disease. 82 patients were included in a prospective study; 25 patients with anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy, 36 with retinal vein occlusion and 21 with retinal artery occlusion. ACA (IgG and IgM isotypes) were measured by ELISA in the sera of all patients. The group of the patients (group A) was compared to an age-matched control group of 79 healthy individuals (group B). IgG isotype (but not IgM) titers of ACA were found significantly higher in group A (P < 0.001). In patients with titers of ACA (IgG isotype) > 100 units we noted a higher incidence of a more severe disease (recurrency, involvement of both eyes or extraocular manifestations) especially among those with anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy and secondarily in those with retinal artery occlusion. Our results suggest that the association between high titers of ACA and occlusive vascular disease of the eye concerns only the IgG isotype. In addition, the detection of high titers of IgG/AGA in patients could be a useful marker for disease severity and prognosis and this observation seems to be more explicit in cases with arterial occlusive disease than in cases with venous occlusive disease.