Drug-related lupus. Clinical and etiologic considerations.

Drug-related lupus (DRL) was first described in 1945 in association with sulfadiazine. Since that time, more than 50 medications have been implicated in this syndrome and its associated laboratory abnormalities. Several mechanisms for these findings have been postulated, but no one mechanism has been established as pre-eminent. The clinical spectrum, when it does occur, is characterized by polyserositis: arthritis, pleuritis, pericarditis, and peritonitis. Many of the well-known features of SLE are rarely, if ever, seen in DRL.