Hepatic affection in systemic lupus erythematosus [in Egypt]

ABSTRACT

This work was carried out to study the hepatic affection in System Lupus Erythematosus [SLE]. Twenty patients with proved SLE; 19 females and one male [mean 26.2 +/- 7.3 y] participated in this study. They were allocated into two groups I and II according to the absence or presence of hepatomegaly respectively. Histopathological examination of needle liver biopsies was done for all patients in group II [n=11] and revealed fatty changes [4] cholestasis [3], and cellular infiltration of the portal tracts [4 patients]. Most of routine liver function tests [total plasma proteins, serum albumin, serum globulins, serum bilirubin and ALT] did not differ significantly between the two groups. Only AST [29.9 +/- 10 vs 14.0 +/- 5.4 iul] and ALP [16.9 +/- 6.8 vs 7.9+3.6 KAU/dl] were significantly higher [P enzymes was slight and an overlap of their absolute values between the two groups was obvious. It was concluded that the liver is not a specific target for SL.E. and any marked alteration of the liver function tests in those patients should signal the search for another non-related or associated disease