Anesthetic considerations for the patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

systemic lupus erythematosus (sLe) is a complex disorder characterized by dysregulation of pathogenic autoantibodies and immune complexes that leads to multisystem chronic inflammatory processes1. sLe is not a rare condition; the estimated prevalence is 100 physician-diagnosed patients per 100,000 people. the disease may present at any age, although it primarily affects women of reproductive ages. the ratio of female to male patients is 9:1.