Rituximab for the treatment of acute exacerbation of interstitial lung disease associated with connective tissue disease.

Background: Acute exacerbation of interstitial lung disease (AE-ILD) is a severe complication with a poor prognosis. No clinical trials have supported the use of rituximab in AE-ILD associated with connective tissue disease.

Methods: We present a series of four cases in which administration of rituximab was associated with appropriate clinical, radiological and functional progress.

Bilateral renal infarction in a lupus patient: an unusual pathology.

Acute renal infarction is still an underdiagnosed pathology. Most cases are secondary to arterial embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation or other cardiac illnesses; however, a less known etiology is the vascular affection of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Renal infarction in lupus patients normally appears with positive antiphospholipid antibodies or lupus anticoagulant in the context of an antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).