Multicenter lupus register from Argentina, the RELESSAR database: Influence of ethnicity on disease phenotype.

Objective: The objective is to describe the main characteristics of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Argentina and to examine the influence of ethnicity on the expression of the disease.

Patients And Methods: RELESSAR is a multicentre register carried out by 106 researchers from 67 rheumatologic Argentine centres. It is a cross-sectional study of SLE (1982/1997 ACR) patients.

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: report of four cases.

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO), a recently recognized manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with only 23 cases reported in the English literature, may appear as a complication or as the initial presentation of SLE and usually occurs during the setting of an active lupus. The pathogenic mechanism in SLE is unknown. We describe four additional cases with clinical, radiological, and manometric features of CIPO.