All issues > Volume 41(7); 1998

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1998;41(7):974-978. Published online July 15, 1998.

A Case of Successful Treatment of Pulmonary Alveolar Hemorrhage with Plasmapheresis in Child with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Jae Hong JH Min¹, Kyung Hoon KH Paek¹, Kyung Mi KM Park¹, Jin Soon JS Hwang¹, Jung Sue JS Kim¹, Il Soo IS Ha¹, Hae Il HI Cheong¹, Kyou Seup KS Han², Yong Y Choi¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Clinical Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea Pulmonary hemorrhage is a rare but possibly fatal complication of systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE). We report a case of massive pulmonary hemorrhage in a 14-year-old boy recently diagnosed as SLE. He developed massive pulmonary hemorrhage during the courses of i.v. methylprednisolone pulse therapy, and did not respond to i.v. cyclophosphamide. However, he rapidly improved through the use of plasmapheresis. Although various factors can precipitate pulmonary hemorrhage in SLE, our case was probably caused by an immune mediated mechanism since the hemorrhage responded promptly to plasmapheresis. This case illustrates the importance of plasmapheresis in the treatment of pulmonary hemorrhage which is not improved by methylprednisolone and cyclophosphamide. We report this case with a brief review of the related literatures.

Keywords :Pulmonary hemorrhage, Systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE), Plasmapheresis