scholarly journals Retinal vasculitis in systemic lupus erythematosus: an indication of active disease

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umi Kalthum Md Noh ◽  
Aida Zairani A. Zahidin ◽  
Then Kong Yong

A 26-year-old woman with a recent flare-up of systemic lupus erythematosus presented with peripheral retinal hemorrhages at a routine check-up. She is on a tapering dose of immunosuppressive agents. Her visual acuity was good. Fluorescein angiogram revealed vasculitic changes with capillary non-perfusion areas. A few weeks later, she developed cerebral lupus with advanced lupus nephritis. Immunosuppressive therapy was restarted and panretinal photocoagulation was delivered. Her visual acuity remained stable, despite development of a cataract from prednisolone therapy.

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1401-1405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahi Touma ◽  
Dafna D. Gladman ◽  
Jiandong Su ◽  
Dominique Ibañez ◽  
Murray B. Urowitz

Objective.To determine whether the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K) is valid in identifying patients who had a clinically important overall improvement with no worsening in other descriptors/systems.Methods.Consecutive patients with systemic lupus erythematosus with active disease who attended the Lupus Clinic between 2000 and 2012 were studied. Based on the change in the total SLEDAI-2K scores on last visit, patients were grouped as improved, flared/worsened, and unchanged. Patients showing improvement were evaluated for the presence of new active descriptors at last visit compared with baseline visit.Results.Of the 158 patients studied, 109 patients had improved, 38 remained unchanged, and 11 flared/worsened at last visit. In the improved group, 11 patients had a new laboratory descriptor that was not present at baseline visit. In those 11 patients, this new laboratory descriptor was not clinically significant and did not require a change in disease management.Conclusion.The SLEDAI-2K identifies improvement in disease activity overall without concealing clinically important worsening.


Lupus ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 096120332110503
Author(s):  
Nitish Jawahar ◽  
Jessica K Walker ◽  
Philip I Murray ◽  
Caroline Gordon ◽  
John A Reynolds

Objective Ophthalmic complications in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) are broad and can occur in up to a third of patients. The British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) 2004 Index identifies 13 ocular manifestations of active SLE, as opposed to those related to previous disease activity and/or the consequences of therapy. We conducted a systematic review of published literature to determine the frequency of ophthalmic manifestations of active SLE. Methods A systematic literature search of Ovid MEDLINE and EMBASE from their respective inceptions to July 2020 was conducted to identify cohort, case–control and cross-sectional studies. Results 22 studies meeting eligibility criteria were included. Most studies featured small sample sizes and were judged to have a high risk of methodological bias. The number and quality of studies did not allow us to confidently estimate the incidence of the conditions. No studies reported epidemiological data for orbital inflammation/myositis/proptosis. The prevalence of each of the other ocular manifestations, with the exception of retinal vaso-occlusive disease, was consistently less than 5%. Retinal vasculitis, uveitis and isolated cotton wool spots tended to be associated with more active SLE disease. Conclusion The prevalence of eye disease due to SLE activity is uncommon, but clinicians should be aware that some conditions tend to be associated with more active systemic disease. Further studies to determine the incidence and risk factors for these ophthalmic manifestations are needed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-40
Author(s):  
Tasnuva Saiful ◽  
Quadrat E Elahi ◽  
Mamun Mostafi ◽  
Abdul Ali Mia

The diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) depends on clinical evidence of renal, rheumatologic, cutaneous, and neurologic involvement, supported by serological markers. Ocular involvement is not included in diagnostic criteria of SLE. Vaso-occlusive retinopathy, as the primary manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is relatively rare. We report a 30-year-old female, who suddenly suffered bilateral visual loss. Fundus examination revealed bilateral occlusive retinal vasculitis. She fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria for diagnosing SLE; she had arthralgia, photosensitivity, positive ANA, high titre of anti-dsDNA, and proteinuria. A renal biopsy showed stage IV lupus nephritis. Treatment was initiated with pulse steroid and immunosuppressant. Best corrected visual acuity of both eye improved to finger counting after treatment. This case demonstrates that in patients with severe vaso-occlusive retinopathy, a generalized immunological disorder, like SLE, should be suspected.Bangladesh J Medicine Jan 2018; 29(1) : 36-40


Author(s):  
Bonnie L. Bermas

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem disease that preferentially affects women of childbearing age. This disorder is both more common and more severe in individuals of African and Asian ancestry. The etiology of SLE is not well understood, although genetics and environmental stimuli clearly are involved. Whether this disease is caused by a T-cell, B-cell, or other immunologic malfunction is debated, but all would agree that clearly autoantibodies such as antinuclear antibodies and anti–double-stranded DNA contribute to the pathophysiology of this disorder. This multisystem disease can affect the skin, joints, lungs, heart, kidneys, and central nervous system. Most of the morbidity and mortality is from renal and central nervous system (CNS) involvement, although accelerated atherosclerosis has recently been appreciated as a major contributor to disease burden. The treatment of SLE has improved over the past decade with less reliance on high-dose corticosteroids and more emphasis on immunosuppressive agents. It is our hope that future research into the pathophysiology of this disorder and the development of more specific therapy, such as biologics, will improve the outcome of this disease.


Lupus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1566-1570
Author(s):  
Akhmad Syaikhu Firizal ◽  
Adhi Kristianto Sugianli ◽  
Laniyati Hamijoyo

Aim We aimed to measure sensitivity, specificity, and to determine the cut-off value (COV) ratio of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR) in patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods A cross sectional study was conducted using the retrospective data from Hasan Sadikin Lupus Registry (HSLR). The inclusion criteria were SLE patients aged 18 years or older who had documented data of neutrophil, lymphocyte, and SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI). Patients with infections, malignancies, and other inflammatory diseases recorded in registry were excluded. SLEDAI with a score of ≤ 4 is considered inactive and score of > 4 is considered active. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was calculated by dividing the absolute number of neutrophils by the absoulte number of lymphocytes. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze and determine optimal COV of NLR. Results The total sample in this study were 112 subjects with a dominant of female (95.54%) and the mean age of 34.45 ± 9.40 years. The median of SLEDAI was 4.5 with a range from 0 to 16, while the median of NLR was 2.68 with a range of 0.59 to 19.02. The ROC analysis showed the optimal cut-off in this study was 2.94 with sensitivity and specificity as high as 60.71% and 76.79%, respectively. Conclusion Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio with cut off value of 2.94 can be used to determine active disease of systemic lupus eythematousus.


1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakana Leohirun ◽  
Phlchal Thuvasethakul ◽  
Vasant Sumethkul ◽  
Trithar Pholcharoen ◽  
VlJitr Boonpucknavig

Abstract Concentrations of neopterin were measured in urine specimens from 35 patients with active and eight with inactive systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Compared with those of apparently healthy controls, neopterin concentrations were higher in patients with active disease (P less than 0.001) and with inactive disease (P less than 0.01), those in patients with active disease being significantly higher than those in patients with inactive disease (P less than 0.001). The correlation between the neopterin concentration and evidence of disease activity was good. All of the patients with clinically active SLE had increased neopterin, but for only 37.5% (three of eight) did the neopterin concentration exceed the upper normal limit during clinical remission. The increase in neopterin concentration did not correlate with clinical courses or severity of renal function. Moreover, serial determinations of neopterin in active SLE patients showed a rapid decrease of initially high concentration, paralleling a decline of clinical activity after initiation of medical therapy. Thus, urinary neopterin may be a useful marker for monitoring disease activity in SLE patients.


Lupus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1509-1519
Author(s):  
Alexandru Constantin ◽  
Daniela Năstase ◽  
Delia Tulbă ◽  
Paul Bălănescu ◽  
Cristian Băicuș

Introduction Peripheral neurologic manifestations may be associated with most of the collagen vascular diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), yet most of the times it is not clear what therapy should be prescribed. EULAR recommendations for the management of systemic lupus erythematosus with neuropsychiatric manifestations suggest the use of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents for the treatment of SLE associated peripheral neuropathy (PN) (strength of statement A, category of evidence 1), however these recommendations are based on studies that did not focus specifically on PN but rather on neuropsychiatric manifestations of SLE out of which only one was a randomized controlled clinical trial that included 7 patients with peripheral neuropathy. The objective of this systematic review is to determine whether the pathogenic treatments (corticosteroids, immunosuppressive agents, intravenous immunoglobulins, plasmapheresis) are effective for SLE associated PN. Methods We searched MEDLINE for all the studies that included the pathogenic treatment of SLE associated PN. The purpose was to identify randomized clinical trials, and in the absence of these, we included observational studies and case reports or case series. Results The search returned only retrospective case reports or case series. Only one prospective study, a randomized controlled study, was focused on neuropsychiatric SLE and included few patients with PN (7). Some studies reported cases of PN responsive to glucocorticoids (GC), cyclophosphamide (CYC), rituximab (RTX), azathioprine (AZA), plasmapheresis (PPH), intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) or different combinations of these immunosuppressive agents, whereas others noticed effectiveness of sequential treatments (i.e. administration of a therapeutic agent after another single agent or a combination of agents had previously failed). Many studies did not mention how the outcomes were objectively measured. Conclusions There are no interventional studies dedicated to the SLE associated PN, only retrospective case reports or case series which not only did they show contradictory results, but they also represent the lowest level of evidence. There is a strong need for new analytical studies dedicated to SLE associated PN. Protocol registered with PROSPERO (number CRD42019121748).


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Yiming Luo ◽  
Yumeng Wen ◽  
Ana Belen Arevalo Molina ◽  
Punya Dahal ◽  
Lorenz Leuprecht ◽  
...  

Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is a rare manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with potentially life-threatening consequences. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case reported in literature for a constellation of MAS, glomerulonephritis, pericarditis, and retinal vasculitis as initial presentation of SLE. Despite extensive multisystem involvement of his disease, the patient responded well to initial steroid treatment, with mycophenolate mofetil successfully added as a steroid-sparing agent. Our case highlights the importance of multispecialty collaboration in the diagnosis and management of SLE with multisystem involvement.


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