Splenic infarction as debut of systemic lupuserythematosus, case report

Abstract

Splenic infarction is a rare pathology and is associated with systemic diseases. Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an entity that occurs in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A case is described of a 32-year-old female patient admitted for fever and cervical lymphadenopathy, pancytopenia with hemolytic anemia and abdominal pain. The
abdominal tomography revealed splenic infarction. An emergency splenectomy was performed. Laboratory tests such as antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anticardiolipins and lupus anticoagulant were positive. He received prednisone and warfarin with good clinical progress one year after
outpatient follow-up. This report highlights the importance of including splenic infarction due to APS secondary to SLE as a differential diagnosis of patients with acute abdominal pain and considering abdominal tomography and immunological markers as the diagnostic method of choice for this entity.