title: Cardiac tamponade as the first manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus in children.
abstract: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a serious chronic autoimmune disease with intense inflammatory response and damage in many target organs including joints, skin, kidneys, heart and nervous system. Cardiac tamponade is extremely rare as a cardinal presentation of SLE in children with only a few cases reported in the literature. We report two cases of a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl presenting with acute cardiac tamponade and later recognition of elevated anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) titre. We also present a literature review about similar cases in children and we stress on the importance of screening all cases of acute cardiac tamponade in children with antinuclear and anti-dsDNA antibodies to avoid any delay in SLE diagnosis and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Services at Children's Heart Center, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Mariam Toufic
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Arabi
authors.forename: Eliane Malek
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Malek
authors.forename: Mohamad Haissam
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Fares
authors.forename: Mohamad Hassan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Itani
mesh_terms: D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male