Lupus panniculitis: clinical perspectives from a case series

To review clinical and laboratory features of lupus panniculitis from a large group of patients.

Retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed with lupus panniculitis at a tertiary medical center from 1976 to 1993.

Lupus panniculitis occurred most frequently in adult women. Skin lesions involved proximal extremities, trunk, face, and scalp. Only 4 of 40 patients fulfilled criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and, other than positive antinuclear antibodies, a paucity of other autoantibodies was seen. Average disease duration was 6 years (range 0-38). Treatment with antimalarial agents was undertaken in most cases. Disease related morbidity (disfigurement and disability) was relatively common, but death was rare.

Lupus panniculitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of subcutaneous adipose tissue that can develop during the course of SLE, although most patients do not develop systemic lupus.