Controversies in the antiphospholipid syndrome: can we ever stop warfarin?

Table 1 Recurrent thrombosis in the patients with antiphospholipid antibodies

Study design	N	Mean age Years	Entry criteria	Patient Characteristics	Mean Follow up Years	Patients with recurrent events No. (%)	Number of recurrent events All (arterial/venous)	Reference
Retrospective	70 48W 22M	45.5 ± 17.3	aPL (aCL/LA) + arterial/venous thrombosis (1^st event)	PAPS 51 SLE 14 ITP 5	5.2	37/70 (53%)	54	Rosove MH et al. Ann Intern Med 1992
Retrospective	19 16W 3M	26 (15–40)	aPL (aCL/LA) + venous thrombosis (1^st event)	PAPS 1 SLE 12 Lupus like 6	8	12/19 (63%)	37 (3/34)	Derksen R et al. Ann Rheum Dis 1993
Retrospective	147 124W 23M	32 (14–66)	aPL (aCL/LA) + arterial/venous thrombosis (1^st event)	PAPS 62 SLE 66 Lupus like 19	7	101/147 (69%)	186 (75/111)	Khamashta M et al. N Eng J Med 1995
Prospective	360 242W 118M	39 (2–78)	aPL (aCL/LA) (117 aPL pt with previous arterial/venous thrombosis)	SLE 69 Lupus like 66	4	25/117 (21.3%)	25	Finazzi G et al. Am J Med 1996
Prospective	412 181W 231M	60.2	Venous thrombosis (1^st event) allocated 6 months warfarin	-	4	20/68 aCL+ (29%) 47/344 aCL- (14%)	67 (-/67)	Schulman S et al. Am J Med 1998
Prospective	56 48W 8M	37 ± 10	APS (aPL + thrombosis and/or fetal loss) (43 patients with previous arterial/venous thrombosis)	PAPS only	5	14/43 (32.5)	16 (10/6)	Turiel M et al. Stroke 2005

W – women; M – men; aPL – antiphospholipid antibodies; aCL – anticardiolipin antibodies; LA – lupus anticoagulant; PAPS – primary antiphospholipid syndrome; SLE – systemic lupus erytematosus; Lupus like – Lupus like disease; ITP – chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.