Heart arrest due to systemic lupus erythematosus relapse: case report

We report a case of a 36-year-old man who was admitted to the Vilnius University Hospital Santaros clinics emergency department suffering from acute chest pain and experienced cardiac arrest. Changes in the electrocardiogram, elevated troponin level, and clinical symptoms lead to ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI) diagnosis. The patient was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). He was in a remission state of SLE and was not taking drugs for one year before MI happened. SLE may be associated with antiphospholipid syndrome, which can cause cardiovascular complications such as MI. Although it is a usual practice to stop treatment in remission, in some cases, clinicians should consider continuing SLE treatment to avoid cardiovascular complications. In this case, the exacerbation of SLE and myocardial infarction occurred almost simultaneously with no previous thrombotic or cardiovascular events.