Neonatal lupus erythematosis: a five-year case review

Neonatal lupus erythematosus is an infrequent disease seen in newborns. It is caused by transplacental maternal autoantibody passage. Cutaneous involvement and congenital heart block (CHB) are the most common affections, although it may involve multiple organs like the liver, lungs, blood, nervous or digestive systems. This article present a review of the four cases diagnosed in the past five years in a Neonatal Unit, which shows the different clinical spectrum which can develop around this disease (CHB, multisystemic affection and two cutaneous cases), different autoantibodies (specially anti-SSA) with an early negativization during the first year of life and the possibility of future collagen vascular disease as occurred in one case.