Cardiac tamponade as the first manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus in the elderly.

Although pericardial involvement is very frequent in systemic lupus erythematosus, cardiac tamponade is extremely rare as the first manifestation of the disease. On the other hand, systemic lupus erythematosus is a disease that predominantly affects young women, and it is a very uncommon condition in the elderly. We report a 91-year-old woman diagnosed with cardiac tamponade, which was the presenting clinical feature of a previously undiagnosed case of systemic lupus erythematosus.