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Objective: To assess the prevalence and thrombogenic role of anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) in giant cell arteritis., Methods: Two hundred eighty-four patients with newly diagnosed temporal arteritis or polymyalgia rheumatica and 210 age- and sex-matched controls randomly selected from the general population were included in a multicenter, prospective case-control study. Blood samples were obtained at the time of diagnosis, data on initial clinical features were collected in a questionnaire, and temporal artery biopsy findings were reviewed by an experienced pathologist., Results: Anticardiolipin antibodies were present in 20.7% of patients compared with 2.9% of controls (P = 1.45 x 10(-9)). The prevalence of aCL was higher in samples found positive for temporal arteritis than in those found negative on biopsy (31.2% versus 16.7%; P = 0.04), and was similarly higher in the biopsy-positive temporal arteritis group compared with the polymyalgia rheumatica and control groups. Although aCL were associated with thrombotic complications in univariate analysis, the positivity of the biopsy findings remained the only predictive variable in stratified analysis., Conclusion: In giant cell arteritis, aCL seem to function as reactive antibodies in relation to endothelial lesions.

We report two observations of young women with concomitant diagnosis of acute arterial occlusion of the upper limb and Graves' disease. The occlusion was probably related to arterial embolism on paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, without underlying cardiopathy. Dosage of thyroid hormones should be performed in case of arterial occlusion in young subjects without cardiovascular risk factors.

The authors report two cases of Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome associated with small cell lung carcinoma. Following the observations, the clinical diagnosis of this syndrome is considered. We discuss the autoimmune pathogenesis and the relation between paraneoplastic syndrome and small cell cancer. This syndrome is caused by autoantibodies that block the voltage-dependent calcium channels at motor nerve terminals. Small cell carcinoma cells appear to express calcium channels, suggesting that autoantibody production may be triggered by tumor calcium channels determinants. The autoimmune paraneoplastic syndrome theory refers to cross-antigenicity.

We report a series of 40 cases of infectious endocarditis, diagnosed on a 10-year period in a department of Internal Medicine. Initial clinical features were not suggestive of endocarditis and led to delayed hospitalization and diagnosis.