Exocrine pancreatic function in children with systemic lupus erythematosus.

We examined the incidence and spectrum of pancreatic disease in pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We measured serum immunoreactive cationic trypsinogen (IRT) in 185 samples obtained from 35 patients with SLE. Fifteen patients (43%) had elevated IRT levels on at least one occasion. Serum samples were obtained in 20 of 35 patients before start of treatment. Seven of these 20 patients (35%) had elevated IRT levels at diagnosis, which slowly returned to normal as their disease was controlled with treatment. A further 3 of these 20 patients in whom we had sera at diagnosis had elevated levels at some course during their illness. Of the remaining 15 patients in whom sera was not available at diagnosis, 5 patients had increased IRT levels on at least one occasion. We show that elevated IRT levels are common in pediatric SLE, but there was no apparent association with drugs such as prednisone and azathioprine. However, high levels of IRT at the time of diagnosis may be related to an underlying disease component such as vasculitis.