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The studies and discussions presented in the second edition of the Hughes
Syndrome text had their beginning with a 1983 British Medical Journal
publication entitled “Thrombosis, abortion, cerebral disease and the lupus
anticoagulant.” In the mid-20th-century, it was recognized that some
patients with systemic lupus erythematosus had biological false positive
serological tests for syphilis, often coincident with the presence of an anticoagulant
in plasma and the some of these patients (particularly ones with
somewhat atypical of patterns of lupus) paradoxically manifested an
increased incidence of procoagulant complications. Nothing much was
made of these associations, however, until Graham Hughes, author of the
above citation, applied his talents of astute bedside observation, knowledge
of disease mechanisms, imagination, and a “bloodhound” instinct for following
relevant clues. Graham and his colleagues early-on documented vasculopathy
as basis for the diffuse (variable) pathology characteristic of the
syndrome; evidence that procoagulant features were mediated by antiphospholipid
autoantibodies (aPL) followed. Over the past two decades,
investigators around the world have turned their attention to the study of
the Hughes syndrome. (Contributors to this text include 83 clinicians
and/or scientists from 13 countries in Europe, the Americas, Near East, and
Asia. They represent more than a dozen clinical subspecialties and several
basic science disciplines; professionals and students in these fields will need
access to this book, whether in institutional libraries or personal collections
– good news for the publisher.) |
