Antiphospholipid antibodies. A marker of lupus carditis?

C ardiac pathology is common in patients with systemic lupus erythematous (SLE).1-6 The pathological involvement includes pericarditis with or without effusion; myocarditis or cardiomyopathy, sometimes with involvement of the conduction system; and myocardial infarction secondary to coronary arteritis, or, more often, atherosclerosis. Left ventricular hypertrophy and left atrial dilatation often occur in response to renal hypertension.