Hematological disorders in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

This article is a review of different management strategies for the hematological manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the strategies include immunosuppressive drugs, some noval therapies and B-cell depletion for refractory thrombocytopenia in patients with SLE and in antiphospholipid antibody syndrome associated with SLE. The researcher questions the validity of the current classic treatment modes and the article explores the relationships between SLE hematological manifestations and the level of morbidity and mortality burden and focuses on the pathophysiology, diagnostic approaches and management strategies of these manifestations. The researcher focuses on hematological abnormalities because they are the commonest among most manifestations in SLE seen in Anemia, leucopenias and thrombocytopenia. They commonly result from an immune mediated bone marrow failure, excessive peripheral cells destruction or certain drugs and infections. There is also an association between anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) and SLE referred to as secondary APS or SLE-APS. Furthermore, it was recently found that mycophenolatemofetil acts as corticosteroids and as cyclophosphamide sparing agent. Although there is no specific therapy for cytopenias in SLE, corticosteroids remain the mainstay in the treatment of these patients along with less used other conventional treatment options such as azathioprine, cyclophosphamide and human normal immunoglobulin. There are other nove...
Source: Open Rheumatology Journal - Category: Rheumatology Tags: Open Rheumatol J Source Type: research