ULTRASOUND EVALUATION OF NEPHRITIS, HEPATIC STEATOSIS AND KNEE JOINT EFFUSION IN BALINESE WOMEN WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERITHEMATOSUS

Introduction: Organ involvement may influence the severity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Ultrasound (US) can detect organs morphological changes in SLE patients. Lack of data about USdetected lupus organs involvement triggered a research that explored the US findings of nephritis, hepatic steatosis, and knee joint effusion in Balinese women with SLE. Method: This was an analytical cross sectional study to discover the prevalence of US-detected nephritis, hepatic steatosis, and knee joint effusion in Balinese women with SLE, and determined their association with clinical and laboratory findings. Anamnesis, physical, laboratory and US examination were performed. Correlations between clinical and laboratory results with US findings were tested using Spearman’s correlation, linear regression and binary logistic regression tests (? = 0.05). Result: From 57 subjects, US nephritis was determined in 19 (33%) subjects, hepatic steatosis in 31 (54.5%) subjects, right knee joint effusion in 12 (21.1%) subjects, and left knee joint effusion in 14 (24.6%) subjects. No significant correlation between dyslipidemia and hepatic steatosis (p>0.05), but significant correlations between knee pain and knee joint effusion (p<0.001), between decreased of renal function with right and left nephritis (p<0.05) were noted. After adjusted with laboratory indicators, only the right nephritis showed significant association with decreased of renal function (p<0.05). Conclusion: Nephritis, hepatic steatosis, and knee joint effusion were identified in Balinese women SLE patients using US. Some clinical and laboratory indicators had a significant correlation with knee joint effusion and nephritis, but most of the laboratory parameters demonstrated no significant association with hepatic steatosis.