Progressive Hilar and Mediastinal Lymphadenopathy in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus on Corticosteroid Therapy

LYMPH-node enlargement occurs in approximately half of all patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.1 Although the histologic characteristics were described by Short2 in 1907, until 1943, lymphadenopathy in the disease received only brief mention, for early workers regarded much of the lymph-node enlargement in this disease as secondary to tuberculosis.3 , 4 In the more recent literature, lymph-node enlargement has been a relatively common finding mostly affecting cervical, axillary or inguinal regions. Bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy, however, alone or in association with generalized lymphadenopathy, is rarely encountered in the disease. In the following case of steroid-resistant enlargement of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes in . . .