A little info on Antiphospholipid Antibodies

Who Has Antiphospholipid Antibodies?
Though they can cause problems, surprisingly, 2% to 15% of the healthy population actually has antiphospholipid antibodies in their blood. However, these people have very low levels of the antibodies, and therefore they don't really cause a problem. It is only when they are at high levels that the antiphospholipid antibodies begin to make trouble.

Antiphospholipid antibodies are also commonly found in people with:


•unexplained infertility
•Lupus
•Migraine headaches
•Deep vein thrombosis

Complications Caused by Antiphospholipid Antibody
There are a number of complications associated with high levels of antiphospholipid antibody. These include:


•blood clotting
•stroke
•heart attack
•miscarriage

Infertility and Antiphospholipid Antibody
High levels of antiphospholipid antibody are often associated with unexplained infertility including:


•recurrent miscarriage
•stillbirth
•placental insufficiency
•implantation failure
•increased rates of IVF failure.

It is thought that antiphospholipid antibodies compromise the placenta which nourishes your baby. Because the antibodies cause clotting, the embryo is cut off from oxygen and nutrient support. As a result, spontaneous miscarriage or fetal death can occur. Clotting can also cause distress to the placenta, making it difficult to have a successful implantation.

Treatment
If you do test high for antiphospholipid antibodies, you may decide to try to treatment. Treatment is aimed at reducing the number of clots in your blood, and restoring blood flow to the placenta. Low-dose aspirin and the anticoagulant Heparin are often recommended.

What happens most frequently in APS is blood clotting. Pregnancies are lost because blood clots form in the placenta and starve the baby of nutrition. Treatment is the use of anticoagulation. In pregnancy, heparin is used. This gives the fetus an 80-90% chance of survival, a drastic improvement from the 1980's when fetal survival was around 20%.

However, pregnancies are not normal. Normal pregnancy is 40 weeks. In APS, it is more common to deliver the baby between 30-35 weeks, and between 3-5 pounds. Heparin protects the placenta partially, but not fully so that the baby gets enough nutrition to survive longer in the mother. Once born, the babies do fine.