[Cardiac involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus. 103 cases (author's transl)]

One hundred and three cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were reviewed after a period of up to 10 years. The pericardium was involved in 27%, the endocardium in 23% and the myocardium in 14.5% of the cases. Arrhythmia was rare and usually accompanied pericardial or myocardial lesions. Conduction disorders were present in 14.5% of the patients. Atrioventricular block often occurred long after the acute phase of SLE, and synthetic antimalarial drugs appear to be responsible for their development. Whether or not SLE affects the heart, the prognosis is the same during the first ten years of the disease.