Severe hepatic involvement without inflammatory changes in systemic lupus erythematosus: report of two cases and review of the literature

Abstract

Hepatic diseases in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are not rare, but liver biopsies of those cases are usually reported as chronic hepatitis or steroid-induced steatosis. We describe two unusual patients with active SLE who displayed liver dysfunction without inflammatory changes or associated with drug administration. A liver biopsy in case 1 showed massive hepatic cell damage resulting in acute hepatic failure. In case 2, the liver specimen revealed diffuse fatty degeneration without symptoms specific to liver dysfunction. No inflammatory cell infiltrate was observed in the liver tissue of either patient. After steroid pulse therapy (case 1) and the administration of 60 mg/day of prednisolone (case 2), liver function improved in parallel with the stabilization of the other manifestations of SLE. No other causes for liver damage except for SLE were observed in either case. Therefore it is supposed that the liver impairments in these cases were one manifestation of SLE.