Anticardiolipin antibodies and lupus anticoagulant in end-stage renal disease.

Anticardiolipin antibodies are autoantibodies clinically associated with hypercoagulability. Systemic thrombosis and thrombosis of the vascular access for haemodialysis coexist with immunoregulation abnormalities in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The aim of the present study was to analyse the incidence of thrombotic episodes and the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies and lupus anticoagulant in 73 patients with ESRD--51 on haemodialysis and 22 on conservative treatment. Four (18%) patients on conservative treatment had IgG-anticardiolipin, three of them also having lupus anticoagulant. Sixteen (31%) patients on haemodialysis showed IgG-anticardiolipin and 11 (22%) lupus anticoagulant; overall, 19 (37%) patients on haemodialysis had IgG-anticardiolipin and/or lupus anticoagulant. This greater incidence in haemodialysis was associated with a more frequent use of cuprophane membranes (68% versus 34%, P less than 0.05). Six patients with ESRD--one on conservative treatment--met criteria for the diagnosis of primary antiphospholipid syndrome, clinically characterised by thrombosis of the vascular access. IgG-anticardiolipin and/or lupus anticoagulant are frequently found in ESRD and their incidence increases with haemodialysis, probably due to some kind of membrane bioincompatibility. IgG-anticardiolipin and lupus anticoagulant can be associated with thrombotic episodes, being constituents of an ESRD-related antiphospholipid syndrome.