ABSTRACT

Acute icteric hepatitis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus : lupus hepatitis or autoimmune hepatitis? Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease causing severe damage to vital organs, such as kidney, heart and brain. Although increased transaminase levels are frequently encountered in SLE, severe liver involvement has been seldom reported. Hepatosteatosis, lupus hepatitis (liver involvement by SLE), drugs and viral hepatitis are the most frequent causes of abnormal LFTs in patients with SLE. Occasionally, SLE-autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) overlap may also cause abnormal liver function tests. SLE and AIH share many clinical and laboratory findings. Therefore, it is difficult to differentiate lupus hepatitis from AIH in SLE patients, and liver biopsy findings are necessary for making this differentiation. We present here a patient who was admitted to the hospital with acute icteric hepatitis and then diagnosed as having SLE.