Chronic Liver Disease with a "Lupus Erythematosus-like Syndrome"

Abstract

There have been reported in the recent literature a number of patients presenting with severe liver disease and a syndrome resembling systemic lupus erythematosus (S. L. E.).^1-7 Hypergammaglobulinemia, postnecrotic cirrhosis, or chronic hepatitis are common to all these patients. A few have had joint manifestations resembling rheumatoid arthritis. Jaundice often brings about remission in the activity of rheumatoid arthritis, and failure to do so in this group is of interest. The presence or absence of L. E. cells in these patients who have few to many of the clinical manifestations of S. L. E. has further confused the picture. Such a patient was recently studied at the University of Illinois Research and Educational Hospitals, and the details are reported in this paper. The symptoms, findings, and clinical course were those of S. L. E., but the usual pathological lesions of this condition were not found at postmortem examination. The