Drug-induced lupus erythematosus | Multimedia Encyclopedia | Health Information | St. Luke's Hospital
Drug-induced lupus erythematosus is similar to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It is an autoimmune disorder. This means your body attacks healthy tissue by mistake. It is caused by an overreaction to a medicine.
Other less common drugs may also cause the condition. These may include:
Skin rash that gets worse with sunlight. (It may appear as a "butterfly" rash across bridge of nose and cheeks.)
The health care provider will do a physical exam and listen to your chest with a stethoscope. The provider may hear a sound called a heart friction rub or pleural friction rub.
Joints may be swollen and tender.
A chest x-ray may show signs of pleuritis or pericarditis (inflammation around the lining of the lung or heart). An ECG may show that the heart is affected.
Most of the time, symptoms go away within several days to weeks after stopping the medicine that caused the condition.
If the condition is affecting your heart, kidney, or nervous system, you may be prescribed high doses of corticosteroids (prednisone, methylprednisolone) and immune system suppressants (azathioprine or cyclophosphamide). This is rare.
When the disease is active, you should wear protective clothing and sunglasses to guard against too much sun.
Most of the time, drug-induced lupus erythematosus is not as severe as SLE. The symptoms often go away within a few days to weeks after stopping the medicine you were taking. Rarely, kidney inflammation (nephritis) can develop with drug-induced lupus caused by TNF inhibitors. Nephritis may require treatment with prednisone and immunosuppressive medicines.
Avoid taking the drug that caused the reaction in future. Symptoms are likely to return if you do so. Get regular eye exams to detect any complications early.
You develop new symptoms when taking any of the medicines listed above.
Your symptoms do not get better after you stop taking the medicine that caused the condition.
Watch for signs of a reaction if you are taking any of the drugs that can cause this problem.
Callen JP. Drug-induced subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Lupus. 2010 ; 19:1107-11. PMID: 20693204 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20693204 .
Patel DR, Richardson BC. Drug-induced lupus. In: Hochberg MC, Stillman AJ, Smolen JS, Weinblatt, ME, and Weisman MH, eds. Rheumatolgy . 6th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Mosby; 2015:chap 132.
Wright B, Bharadwaj S, Abelson A. Systemic lupus erythematosus. In: Carey WD, ed. Cleveland Clinic: Current Clinical Medicine . 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2010:chap 13.
Lupus, discoid - view of lesions on the chest: This close-up picture of the neck clearly shows the typical rounded appearance of discoid lupus. The whitish appearance is caused by scaling. The two dark spots are biopsy sites and are not part of the disease.
Lupus, discoid on a child's face - illustration
Lupus, discoid on the face - illustration
The rash of lupis is round or disk shaped (discoid) and is characterized by red, raised patches with adherent scales. The skin pores (follicles) may be plugged, and scarring often occurs in older lesions. Approximately 90% of individuals with discoid lupus have only skin involvement as compared to more generalized involvement in systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE).
Tests for Drug-induced lupus erythematosus