Understanding Hughes Syndrome: Case Studies for Patients
Along with AIDS, antiphospholipid syndrome was the major medical
discovery of the late 20th century, so for many it is still deemed a
‘new’ disease.
The discovery of ‘sticky blood’ (commonly known as antiphospholipid
syndrome or ‘Hughes Syndrome’) came out of years of observation of
patients who had developed lupus. Many specialists in the 1970s were
interested in the neurological aspects of lupus, and Dr Hughes, among
others, spent a number of years studying the mechanisms of brain
inflammation.
In the mid 1970s, Hughes observed a number of young women with a form
of viral paralysis, where interestingly many of them carried an
antibody in their blood actually directed against ‘phospholipid’ – one
of the components of brain and spinal cord. It quickly became apparent
that individuals who had “anti-phospholipid antibodies” suffered from a
tendency not only to develop brain and spinal cord symptoms, but also a
tendency to develop both vein and artery thrombosis.
As investigation continued it became apparent that these symptoms
were not just confined to lupus patients, but occurred in others too,
specifically those with severe migraines, with repeated strokes, with
memory loss, and in women with recurrent miscarriage

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