Although liver dysfunction is not considered the main organ pathologically affected by SLE , the incidence of liver dysfunction or abnormal liver enzyme values during the SLE course ranged from 19% to 60%. Hence, identifying the potential causes of liver dysfunction in SLE (other than lupus hepatitis) is often difficult because of several potential causes, such as autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), PBC, hepatic steatosis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, viral hepatitis, and drug-induced liver diseases such as those induced by prednisolone. In addition, other studies have reported that liver dysfunction is not a major prognostic factor for SLE because end-stage liver dysfunction with comorbid SLE is generally rare. Matsumoto et al.’s review revealed that liver cirrhosis occurred in only 1.1% of biopsy findings among 1,468 Japanese patients with SLE.
Author(s) Details:
Toru Shizuma,
Department of Physiology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Japan.
