Pulmonary manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus patients with and without antiphospholipid syndrome

To uncover the pulmonary manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus [SLE] patients alone and to compare findings with antiphospholipid syndrome [APS] associated with SLE. This cross sectional comparative study was carried out at King Khalid University Hospital [KKUH]/King Saud University [KSU], a tertiary care hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. From June 2012 to March 2014, 96 diagnosed SLE patients with respiratory symptoms were included in the study and divided into two groups. Group one included SLE without antiphospholipid syndrome [APS] and group two SLE with APS. We compared Demographic features, clinical manifestations and findings of chest X-Ray, Arterial Blood Gases, Pulmonary function tests, six minute walk test, ventilation perfusion scan, echocardiography and chest high resolution computed tomography. Demographic and clinical characteristics of two groups were similar. Previous history of deep venous thrombosis [3% vs 27.6%, p=0.001], pulmonary embolism [3% vs34.5%, p<0.0001] and abortions [7.5% vs 27.6%, p=0.019] were significantly more in group two. Levels of Anticardiolipin antibody [0% vs 100%, p<0.0001] and lupus anticoagulant [1.5% vs 79.3%, p<0.0001] were also significantly higher in group two. Hypoxemia measured by pulse oximetry [43.3% vs 65.5% p=0.045, pulmonary Arterial Hypertension [15.5% vs 39.3% p=0.014]], and pulmonary embolism [3.4% vs 21.4% p=0.013] and ventilation perfusion mismatch on V/Q scan [1.5% vs 24.1% p=0.001] were more frequent in group two. Hypoxemia, pulmonary embolism and pulmonary arterial hypertension were significantly high in SLE patients with APS, requiring long term anticoagulation and treatment and close follow-up

Pattern of MRI brain in neuro-psychiatric SLE. effect of anti-phospholipid antibodies: a study at a tertiary care teaching hospital

To compare the neuro-radiologic findings in Systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE] patients with and without antiphospholipid antibodies [aPL] in different neuro-psychiatric manifestations. This cross-sectional comparative study was carried out at King Khalid University Hospital, a tertiary care teaching hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from June 2012 to January 2015. Ninety seven SLE patients with neuro-psychiatric manifestations were included in the study and divided into two groups. Group I [50 patients] SLE with aPL and group II [47 patients] SLE without aPL. We compared Demographic features, clinical manifestations and magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] brain findings. Demographic and clinical characteristics of two groups were similar. In Group-l, anticardiotipin antibodies [aCL] were most common [86%]. In patients with headache, most of the patients in Group-l had white matter hyperintensities [WMHIs] [50% vs 27%] while most of the patients in Group-ll had normal MRI brain [38% vs 73%]. Similarly WMHIs were found more in Group-l patients with seizures [60% vs 21%], while ischemia/infarction, atrophy and normal MRI were found in Group-ll. MRI brain in patients with neurological deficit and psychiatric disorder were not much different in both the groups. We found no statistically significant differences in frequencies of MRI brain abnormalities in SLE patients with and without aPL antibodies. Each of the three aPL may have a variable effect on the brain