Aim: To elicit clinical features of nephropathy associated with antiphospholipid syndrome (APSN) in patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS).
Material and methods: The analysis of clinical characteristics and course of APSN has covered 24 patients with PAPS (16 females and 8 males, mean age 34.3 years). Renal damage was represented by arterial hypertension (AH), urinary syndrome, functional decline. All the patients were tested for anticardiolipin antibodies and/or lupus anticoagulant. Renal biopsy was made in 7 patients.
Results: PAPS patients developed renal affection in the onset of APS or within the first 5 years of its course. In the majority of patients APSN combined with abnormalities of CNS, heart and skin. Arterial/arteriolar thromboses prevailed. APSN manifested with: AH (n = 23, severe AH in 11), abnormal renal filtration (n = 17, creatinine rise in 8), urinary syndrome with proteinuria (n = 23, in 14 with hematuria). The following clinical variants of APSN were proposed: urinary syndrome with AH (n = 16; 67%), acute nephritic syndrome (n = 7; 29%), nephrotic syndrome (n = 1). Morphological studies of biopsies from APSN patients have revealed sclerotic changes, thrombotic microangiopathy, nonspecific alterations in the glomeruli.
Conclusion: APSN is a variant of microvascular renal affection caused by thrombotic processes in intra-organ microcirculation. It is an early clinical marker of APS. Clinically, APSN manifests with vascular renal affection, the earliest symptom being inhibition of glomerular filtration. Clinical combinations of the symptoms allow to distinguish variant of APSN suggesting the existence of acute and chronic APSN. Combination of APSN with affection of the CNS, heart and skin points to a special PAPS subtype characterized by generalized ischemic damage to the organs as a result of intraorganic arterial and/or arteriolar thromboses.