Anticardiolipin antibodies in Sneddon's syndrome.

We studied 24 patients (18 women, 6 men), aged 29 to 54, with Sneddon's syndrome. The clinical picture of Sneddon's syndrome was characterized by cerebrovascular disorders, livedo reticularis, disturbance of peripheral circulation, arterial hypertension, cardiac pathology (ischemic heart disease, heart murmurs), complicated obstetric history in women, and disturbed sexual function in men. In 6 of 17 examined patients with Sneddon's syndrome there was a high concentration of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) but no antibodies to native DNA and LE cells. The course of the disease in the patients with a high ACA level, when compared with normal ACA level patients, was characterized by a more rapid progression and more severe clinical manifestations. The study demonstrates the similarity of clinical symptoms and immunologic disturbances in Sneddon's syndrome and the antiphospholipid syndrome and suggests the importance of ACA in the pathogenesis of some cases of Sneddon's syndrome.