[Antiphospholipid syndrome--interdisciplinary problem].

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disorder, where the essence of the matter is the existence of antiphospholipid antibodies. The typical symptoms of APS are: venous thrombo-embolic disease and artery thrombosis in a brain. The authors present 5 patients (2 females and 3 males) at the age of 36-54 with ischemic stroke and one 26-year-old women with thrombosis of central retinal vein caused by APS.

Cancer procoagulant in patients with adenocarcinomas.

Cancer procoagulant (CP) is a cysteine proteinase that may be produced by malignant and foetal tissue. The possible role of CP in the pathogenesis of cancer-related thrombosis has been suggested recently. The purpose of the study was to evaluate coagulation prothrombotic markers and their relation to CP concentration in the blood of patients with gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas (GIAC).

Plasma markers of hypercoagulability in patients with serious infections and risk of septic shock.

Hyperthrombinogenesis due to bacterial septicemia may aggravate the risk of irreversible septic shock. In 22 patients with septicemia complicating urinary or alimentary infections, daily assessment of hemostasis was performed throughout 1 week. Standard screening of hemostasis revealed significantly increased mean values of prothrombin time, fibrinogen, and fibrinogen degradation product (FDP) concentration.

[Combined hemostatic defects in family members of symptomatic carriers of Leiden mutations of factor V].

The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of additional prothrombotic defect in family members of 14 symptomatic, heterozygous carriers of factor V Leiden mutation (FV Leiden). The FV Leiden was found in fifty-five from among 127 persons (43%). Thirty-two from 53 (68%) family carriers of FV Leiden had venous thromboembolic disease at the time of examination.

[Similar risk of thrombosis complications in heterozygous carriers of Leiden mutation and in patients with idiopathic thromboembolic disease].

The aim of the study was to evaluate the thrombosis free survival in unrelated 24 heterozygous carriers for Leiden mutation and in unrelated 26 patients with "idiopathic" thromboembolic disease. The subjects with coexisting antithrombin III, protein C, S deficiency, obesity, antiphospholipid antibodies, cancer or taking oral contraceptives were excluded from analysis. The clinical manifestations of thrombosis were comparable in both investigated group, similarly the mean age of the first episode occurrence (37.