Clinical manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus

diagnostic and therapeutic approach in the emergency room

Abstract

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with a diverse array of clinical manifestations. Some of them can bring the patient to urgency medical attention. It is important that the general clinician knows how to carry out the initial approach in this kind of patient, mainly in the cases with life-threatening manifestations of SLE. The purpose of this review is to discuss the manifestations of SLE that require urgency care. We describe severe forms of skin, renal, neuropsychiatry, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, cardiac and hematological involvements in SLE. The therapeutic aspects are described as well as the necessary care procedures in the initial follow-up of the patient. The principal difficulty of the management of SLE in the emergency room is differentiate disease activity from underlying infection. It is necessary to rule out infection before initiate immunosuppressive treatment. Thus, we should make an effort to obtain correct diagnosis of SLE manifestations in the emergency room, avoiding judgment mistakes that could be disastrous.