Chua S, Dodd H, Saeed I T, Chakravarty K
Department of Rheumatology, Harold Wood Hospital, Romford, Essex, UK.
Lupus. 2002;11(5):322-4. doi: 10.1191/0961203302lu195cr.
Dysphagia is not infrequent in patients with connective tissue diseases such as scleroderma, polymyositis or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It is usually the result of gastro-oesophageal reflux but dysmotility can equally be responsible. A case of dysphagia is described in a patient with SLE, who had developed a rare variety of bullous mucous disease affecting the whole length of oesophagus with spontaneous extrusion of an oesophageal cast. Histological features were suggestive of a variant of rare form of bullous disease in SLE called epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA). This rare association of SLE and EBA involving the oesophagus has not been described in the literature.