CASE REPORT article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Pediatric Cardiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1538903
A Rare Case Report ：Fulminant myocarditis in Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus
Provisionally accepted
- Children's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
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Background: Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is a rare autoimmune disorder caused by the transplacental passage of maternal autoantibodies, such as anti-Ro/SS-A and anti-La/SS-B. It can affect multiple organ systems, resulting in various symptoms. Fulminant myocarditis, a severe inflammatory heart condition and uncommon complication of NLE, may have a favorable prognosis with timely diagnosis and proper treatment.Case presentation: We present a case of a one-month-old female infant with seizures, hypocalcemia, and a maternal history of Sjögren's syndrome, which are compatible with NLE. Further diagnostic assessments detected anti-nuclear antibodies, anti-SSA, and anti-RO52 antibodies. The infant also exhibited elevated cardiac biomarkers and a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, pointing to fulminant myocarditis. Treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin and methylprednisolone led to remarkable clinical improvement and normalization of laboratory parameters within one year. Conclusions: This case highlights the rarity of fulminant myocarditis in neonatal NLE and emphasizes the critical role of early diagnosis and timely intervention. It also indicates the potential prognostic value of cardiac biomarkers in such cases.
Keywords: Neonatal lupus erythematosus, Fulminant myocarditis, case report, Cardiac involvement, literature review
Received: 03 Dec 2024; Accepted: 18 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tan, Li, Zhang, Dawuti and Rejiafu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nuerya Rejiafu, Children's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
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