Key result
High dose steroid injection for five days led to the disappearance of symptoms and significant reduction of pericardial fluid in a patient with SLE-induced pericardial effusion.
Why the study?
Pericardial effusion has broad etiologies including inflammation, infection, and malignancy, and discovering the etiology is essential because treatment depends on the underlying cause.
Case Report (n=1)
No
Pericardial effusion can be the primary presenting sign of systemic lupus erythematosus and responds well to high-dose steroid therapy.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
High-dose steroids may resolve SLE pericardial effusion; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective trials before practice change.
Pericardial effusion (PE) is accumulation of fluid in the pericardial sac. There are broad etiologies of PE, such as inflammation, infection, and malignancy. The etiology must be discovered because the treatment will be focused based on the cause. We present a 40-year-old female who came to the cardiology clinic with exertional dyspnea as the only symptom. The patient had a history of unspecific joint pain two months prior. Physical examination, chest x-ray, and electrocardiography revealed no specific findings. However, on echocardiography, we found moderate circumferential pericardial effusion. The patient then admitted for further evaluation. Blood counts, peripheral blood smear, urinalysis, and immunoserology examination such as ANA and anti-dsDNA was ordered and the result led to the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). High dose steroid injection was given for five days and the symptoms disappeared. Follow-up echocardiography after a week of hospital admission revealed significant reduction of pericardial fluid.
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Ramadhanty et al. (2023) conducted a case report in Pericardial effusion and Systemic lupus erythematosus (n=1). High dose steroid injection was evaluated on Symptom resolution and reduction of pericardial fluid. High dose steroid injection for five days led to the disappearance of symptoms and significant reduction of pericardial fluid in a patient with SLE-induced pericardial effusion.
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