AUTHOR=Giani Teresa , Mauro Angela , Ferrara Giovanna , Cimaz Rolando 

TITLE=Case Report: Infantile Ischemic Stroke and Antiphospholipid Antibodies, Description of Four Cases

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2020.596386

DOI=10.3389/fped.2020.596386

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<p>Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a rare condition in childhood, but even more in the neonatal age. Most neonatal cases are considered a passively acquired autoimmune disease, due to a transplacental passage of maternal antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) from mothers with primary or secondary APS or, more often, from asymptomatic aPL carriers. Exceedingly unusual is the neonatal <italic>de novo</italic> production of aPL. We present four infants with presumed perinatal stroke in presence of increased and persistent aPL levels, even after 6 months of life, opening the window on a gray zone related to the origin of these antibodies (maternal or neonatal) and on their role in the pathogenesis of stroke.</p>