一名患有系统性红斑狼疮的年轻女性因胸膜炎性胸痛就诊时偶然发现Libman-Sacks心内膜炎。
An Incidental Finding of Libman-Sacks Endocarditis in a Young Female With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Who Presented With Pleuritic Chest Pain.
作者信息
Alhashem Ali T, Hassan Walaa M
机构信息
Internal Medicine, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, SAU.
Internal Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, EGY.
出版信息
Cureus. 2023 Nov 29;15(11):e49672. doi: 10.7759/cureus.49672. eCollection 2023 Nov.
Libman-Sacks endocarditis (LSE) is a rare disease found incidentally in postmortem autopsies, characterized by microscopic to large verrucous vegetation on the cardiac valves, the most affected site is the mitral valve followed by the aortic valve. Females of reproductive age were observed as the most affected individuals as found in studies. Most individuals with LSE are asymptomatic and generally discovered lately when they presented with thromboembolic disorders such as stroke, cognitive disabilities, and death. Malignancy and autoimmune diseases involving systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) are considered the primary etiology of LSE. As recognized, the majority of LSE cases are asymptomatic, it tends to be challenging to spot the condition at the early pathway of the disease. In this paper, we describe a young female who is known to have SLE on medications, she presented to the emergency department (ED) due to chest pain and exertional dyspnea for a few days, laboratory investigations showed anemia, raised inflammatory marker, and anti-DsDNA. Imaging studies showed bilateral pleural effusion on the chest X-ray and a large vegetation on the posterior mitral valve with moderate regurgitation and normal wall motion in transesophageal echocardiography. The patient was managed by pulse steroid therapy, anticoagulation therapy, and a low dose of diuretic, the patient improved dramatically and discharged home with close follow-up in the clinic. The primary treatment of LSE is anticoagulant therapy, however, surgical intervention should be considered in case of large vegetation recurrent thromboembolism despite anticoagulant therapy. As the prognosis in LSE is considered very poor and there is no definitive laboratory investigation exists to confirm the diagnosis, we highlight the importance of considering LSE as a serious and crucial differential diagnosis when dealing with SLE patients who presented with dyspnea and pleural effusion secondary to valvular dysfunction, mainly the mitral valve.
Libman-Sacks心内膜炎(LSE)是一种在尸检中偶然发现的罕见疾病,其特征是心脏瓣膜上出现微观至大型疣状赘生物,最常受累的部位是二尖瓣,其次是主动脉瓣。研究发现,育龄女性是受影响最严重的人群。大多数LSE患者无症状,通常在出现血栓栓塞性疾病如中风、认知障碍和死亡时才被发现。恶性肿瘤以及涉及系统性红斑狼疮(SLE)和抗磷脂综合征(APS)的自身免疫性疾病被认为是LSE的主要病因。众所周知,大多数LSE病例无症状,在疾病早期阶段发现这种情况往往具有挑战性。在本文中,我们描述了一名正在接受SLE治疗的年轻女性,她因胸痛和劳力性呼吸困难数天就诊于急诊科(ED),实验室检查显示贫血、炎症标志物升高和抗双链DNA抗体阳性。影像学研究显示胸部X线检查有双侧胸腔积液,经食管超声心动图显示二尖瓣后叶有一个大型赘生物,伴有中度反流,室壁运动正常。患者接受了脉冲类固醇治疗、抗凝治疗和低剂量利尿剂治疗,病情显著改善并出院,在门诊密切随访。LSE的主要治疗方法是抗凝治疗,然而,尽管进行了抗凝治疗,但如果出现大型赘生物或复发性血栓栓塞,则应考虑手术干预。由于LSE的预后被认为非常差,且目前尚无明确的实验室检查来确诊,因此我们强调,在处理因瓣膜功能障碍(主要是二尖瓣)导致呼吸困难和胸腔积液的SLE患者时,将LSE作为一种严重且关键的鉴别诊断的重要性。