SLE affects almost every organ system, with differing degrees of severity. During its clinical course periods of flares may alternate with periods of remission culminating in disease and therapy related damage. We describe a case of ANA negative SLE with severe thrombocytopenia, cutaneous vasculitis, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, and pulmonary artery hypertension. As there is no definitiv...

ANA: antinuclear antibody BID: twice a day CLE: cutaneous lupus erythematosus DIL: drug-induced lupus SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus INTRODUCTION Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), defined as isolated cutaneous lesions without significant systemic involvement, has a reported incidence and prevalence of 4.3 and 73.2 per 100,000, respectively. It occurs more commonly among women with a repor...

1 February 1996 Case report A 54 year old West Indian woman with hypertension and diet controlled diabetes mellitus was admitted with a six week history of general malaise, fever, mouth ulceration, myalgia, arthralgia, and arthritis; previously she had been well. On examination she was noted to be feverish (38°C) with nail bed infarction, splinter haemorrhages, and mouth ulceration, but no rash...

BACKGROUND Immunoglobulin (Ig) G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is characterized by elevated serum IgG4 and infiltration of IgG4(+) plasma cells into multiple organs. It is not known whether serum IgG4 is autoreactive in IgG4-RD. METHODS We measured anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) in 19 IgG4-RD cases, determined IgG subclasses of the ANA, and compared them with those of other systemic autoimmune dise...

Objective: To determine the long term prognosis of children of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: Children of patients with SLE were invited to attend our clinic for physical examination and laboratory tests. A total of 195 children (aged 4 months to 26 years; male = 82, female = 113) were examined in 1991, 1995, 1997, and 1998. Results: Two cases were diagnosed as SLE a...

OBJECTIVE Antinuclear antibody (ANA) analysis by immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy remains a diagnostic hallmark of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The clinical relevance of ANA fine-specificities in SLE has been addressed repeatedly, whereas studies on IF-ANA staining patterns in relation to disease manifestations are very scarce. This study was performed to elucidate whether different st...

OBJECTIVE A positive antinuclear antibody (ANA), while sensitive, is not specific for systemic lupus erythematosus or connective tissue diseases (CTD). The purpose of the present study was to review those sera with a high titre (> or = dilutions above screening) ANA and determine from a review of the charts if these higher titres offered a satisfactory specificity for CTD. METHODS All FANA te...

OBJECTIVE To determine the long term prognosis of children of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS Children of patients with SLE were invited to attend our clinic for physical examination and laboratory tests. A total of 195 children (aged 4 months to 26 years; male = 82, female = 113) were examined in 1991, 1995, 1997, and 1998. RESULTS Two cases were diagnosed as SLE ...

Background. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, inflammatory, connective tissue disease that commonly affects the joints and a variety of organs due to an overactivation of the body's immune system. There is wide heterogeneity in presentation of SLE patients, including lung, central nervous system, skin, kidney, and hematologic manifestations. Case Presentation. We report a case of...