Lupus anticoagulants, anticardiolipin antibodies, and cerebral ischemia.

We studied 23 patients suffering cerebral ischemia who also had laboratory evidence of either a lupus anticoagulant (LA) or an abnormal anticardiolipin antibody (ACA). Four patients had lupus or a lupus-like illness, three had drug-induced lupus, and 16 had no overt evidence of collagen-vascular disease. Cerebral ischemic events were multiple in 71% of the patients; two patients presented with multi-infarct dementia. Recognized cerebrovascular disease risk factors were present in 57% of the patients. The partial thromboplastin time was prolonged in only 35% of the patients. An LA was identified in 15 of 21 patients tested, and an elevated ACA titer was identified in 10 of 12 patients tested. Simultaneous assays for LA and ACA were discordant in eight of 10 patients tested. LA- and ACA-associated brain ischemia is often recurrent, but other risk factors for cerebrovascular disease are often present. The laboratory findings in such patients may display considerable heterogeneity.