Current aspects of the etiopathogenesis of antiphospholipid syndrome and its clinical manifistations

Abstract

Antiphospholipid syndrome is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by the persistent presence of antiphospholipid antibodies and a predisposition to arterial, venous, and microvascular thrombotic manifestations. In this article, the authors analyzed the available literature sources in the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases for the period from 2019 to 2026, focusing on the epidemiological, gender-related, etiopathogenetic, clinical, and diagnostic aspects of antiphospholipid syndrome. Antiphospholipid syndrome emerges as a systemic immune-vascular nosological entity in which cere¬brovascular and cardiovascular manifestations constitute the main clinical phenotype and determine the long-term prognosis of the disease. Understanding antiphospholipid syndrome as a unified immune-coagulation process is of fundamental importance for clinical practice, as it provides a basis for more accurate risk stratification, early identification of patients with a high probability of severe vascular complications, and the development of pathogenetically substanti¬ated therapeutic methods targeting not only the coagulation cascade but also the immune and inflammatory components of the disease. Such an integrative approach is fundamental to optimizing treatment and improving the prognosis of patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.