Publications of Faculty of Medicine:IMPORTANCE OF SERUM ANTICARDIOLIPIN ANTIBODY LEVELS IN CORONARY HEART DISEASE: Abstract

Title:
IMPORTANCE OF SERUM ANTICARDIOLIPIN ANTIBODY LEVELS IN CORONARY HEART DISEASE
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Abstract:

During the past 10 years , it has been shown that patients with antibodies to phospholipids develop recurrent venous thrombosis , repeated fetal loss and thrombocytopenia. The aim of this study is to determine the importance of serum anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and to see whether ACA could be, among others, a predisposing factor for the coronary artery occlusion and whether it could serve as a prognostic marker for CHD. The studied population consisted of 30 CHD patients and 10 healthy subjects as a control group. Coronary heart disease patients were divided into 3 groups : Group 1 (10 patients suffering from stable angina) ; Group 11 (10 patients suffering from unstable angina) ; and Group 111 (10 patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction). Immunoglobulin G anticardiolipin antibodies (1gG ACA) and immunoglobulin M anticardiolipin antibodies (IgM ACA) were detected by the enzymelinked inununosorbant assay (ELISA). High IgG ACA levels were found in patients with unstable angina (50%) compared to the normal control group with a highly significant difference. High IgG ACA levels were detected in patients with stable angina (40%) and acute myocardial infarction (30%) when compared to the control group. The difference was also significant. Ig MACA levels showed no significant difference between the three groups of patients and the control one. As a result , the detection of IgG ACA in CHD patients may be an alarm of a risk of impending thrombotic attack and high levels of IgG ACA in post-myocardial infarction patients may be considered as a risk of recurrence.