A Rare and Intriguing Case of Wilson's Disease Initially Suspected of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Mandana Khodashahi; Najmeh Mohajeri; Moeid Reza Alipour; Reza Khademi; Nama Mohamadian Roshan; Behzad Aminzadeh; Muhammed Joghatayi

doi:10.1002/ccr3.70091

A Rare and Intriguing Case of Wilson's Disease Initially Suspected of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Clin Case Rep. 2025 Jan 7;13(1):e70091. doi: 10.1002/ccr3.70091. eCollection 2025 Jan.

Authors

Mandana Khodashahi¹, Najmeh Mohajeri¹, Moeid Reza Alipour¹, Reza Khademi¹, Nama Mohamadian Roshan², Behzad Aminzadeh³, Muhammed Joghatayi¹

Affiliations

¹ Rheumatic Diseases Research Center, Ghaem Hospital, Taghi Abad Mashhad University of Medical Sciences Mashhad Iran.
² Department of Pathology, Ghaem Hospital, Taghi Abad Mashhad University of Medical Sciences Mashhad Iran.
³ Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Vakil Abad Mashhad University of Medical Sciences Mashhad Iran.

Abstract

When systematic lupus erythematosus-like lab results (e.g., positive anti-double-stranded DNA antibody, low complement component 3) are inconsistent with physical findings, such as the absence of arthritis or nephritis, clinicians should consider diagnoses such as Wilson's disease, especially in the presence of abnormal liver function and elevated international normalized ratio (INR).

Keywords: Wilson's disease; hepatomegaly; liver injury; pancytopenia; systemic lupus erythematosus.