The association between anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and thrombosis is well recognized, but its role as an independent risk factor for stroke is not. The study's aim was to investigate the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) and ischemic vascular events by using both traditional means the estimation of aCL and glycoprotein (beta(2)GP1) antibodies. Additionally both aCL/beta(2)GP1 and aPLmix/beta(2)GP1 antibodies were measured. The measurement of these two antibodies was determined by using as target antigens, either cardiolipin alone or a mixture of different phospholipids coated with human beta(2)GP1 in order to select only the autoimmune antibodies. One hundred and twenty-two consecutive patients with first-ever acute ischemic cerebrovascular event were included and compared with controls. The presence of aCl in patients (20.5 %) and controls (14.7 %) was not significantly different (p = 0.1). The presence of abeta(2)GP1 (6.5 % versus 4.9 %, p = 0.7) was also not significant, while there were associations for aCL/b2GP1 13.9 % versus 4.9 % (p = 0.02) and aPLmix/beta(2)GP1 15.6 % versus 4.9 % (p = 0.01). These latter tests seem to be useful in assessing the autoimmune and therefore the thrombogenetic antibodies.