Portal and pulmonary vessel thrombosis associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and anticardiolipin antibodies.

We describe a 26-year-old patient with systemic lupus erythematosus and pulmonary and portal hypertension associated with the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies. Postmortem histological examination revealed the presence of recent thromboses of pulmonary and portal vessels. Our findings further support the concept of pulmonary hypertension being part of the antiphospholipid syndrome and suggest that portal hypertension due to intrahepatic portal vein thrombosis might be another manifestation of this syndrome.