Vascular lesions in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with pulmonary hypertension

An autopsy case with SLE suffering from Raynaud's phenomenon and pulmonary hypertension was reported. Histological examinations revealed systemically marked fibrous intimal thickening of arteries and arterioles with or without thrombus throughout the whole body, especially of the pulmonary arteries and arterioles. Pulmonary arterial changes in the present case were compared with those in 52 autopsied cases with SLE without pulmonary hypertension, but there were no cases with such marked arterial changes as the present case. In addition, the incidence of pulmonary thrombosis was significantly higher in the cases with Raynaud's phenomenon than the cases without this phenomenon. However, the relation between pulmonary hypertension and Raynaud's phenomenon, pulmonary thrombosis, fibrous pericarditis, or type of lupus nephritis in SLE could not be clarified with a significant difference.