Acute Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus

This 18 year old SLE patient came to our Department due to a recent onset (3 months earlier) of malar rash and constitutional symptoms (weakness and malaise). The patient reported having a 5-year history of Raynaud's phenomenon (20% of patients) and arthralgia (90% of patients have Arthritis).
Abnormal results of laboratory studies included the presence of ANA (100%), anti-nDNA (=Anti-double-stranded DNA, It's specific, and found in 40-60%), anti-SS-A (30-50%) autoantibodies and a proteinuria of approximately 10 g/d.
Renal biopsy revealed a Class IV lupus glomerulonephritis (50% of patients have kidney involvement, Class IV Glomerulonephritis is the most common renal lesion 50% and most serious, and the most common cause of death in SLE is Renal Failure) and therefore a course of high-dose oral corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide was prescribed ((Immunosupressives)).
The rash responded well to the treatment.

malar rash