Do you send an antiphospholipid antibody panel routinely for all patients with an unprovoked thrombus?

Yes. My own practice is to perform testing for antiphospholipid antibodies in all patients with unprovoked VTE and also in patients with arterial thrombosis. Testing should include assays for lupus anticoagulant, anti-cardiolipin antibodies (IgG and IgM), and anti-beta 2 glycoprotein I antibodies (I...

I test for antiphospholipid antibodies for all unprovoked thrombosis for the following reasons. If the thrombosis is associated with antiphospholipid antibodies, the treatment should be continued as long as the antibodies persist (which may be a long time). Secondly, warfarin may be superior to dire...