Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome

Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome
Other names	Catastrophic APS
Specialty	Intensive care medicine, otorhinolaryngology, rheumatology

Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS), also known as Asherson's syndrome, is a rare autoimmune disease in which widespread, intravascular clotting causes multi-organ failure.^[1] The syndrome is caused by antiphospholipid antibodies that target a group of proteins in the body that are associated with phospholipids. These antibodies activate endothelial cells, platelets, and immune cells, ultimately causing a large inflammatory immune response and widespread clotting.^[1] CAPS was first described by Ronald Asherson in 1992. The syndrome exhibits thrombotic microangiopathy, multiple organ thromboses, and in some cases tissue necrosis and is considered an extreme or catastrophic variant of the antiphospholipid syndrome.