The biggest challenge is early detection and timely treatment to prevent irreversible organ damage in patients with Systemic Autoimmune Diseases.
Patient with lupus on his face. Photo: Shutterstock.
In the development of the Multidisciplinary Symposium, of Autoimmune diseases Systemic (EAS), focused on understanding what are the problems and challenges that are still present today and how to improve both management and the impact it has on the quality of life of all people who suffer from them. With the participation of the Association of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV) among other associations, provided important information.
What are the systemic autoimmune diseases?
How do you properly define the AEDV“son pathologies that affect different organs and systems of the body, requiring the collaboration of different specialists for the management of people who suffer from them”. Because their cause is usually unknown, the first diagnoses are usually wrong and this is what makes The diagnosis is almost always late.
What all systemic autoimmune diseases have in common is that there is a fault in the immune system that causes this attack on cells and body’s own tissues. An inadequate, disconcerting response that makes patients have to visit several specialists before being able to receive an adequate diagnosis of the disease they suffer from, according to what was published in 20 Minutes of Spain.
Types of systemic autoimmune diseases
There are several types of systemic autoimmune diseases. One of them is the lupus erythematous where the skin, joints, kidneys and brain can be affected. Scleroderma is another disease that would fall into this group that causes an excessive production of collagen which can even cause deformations in the body and in the skin.
Other systemic autoimmune diseases would be vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels), Sjogren’s syndrome (destruction of glands that produce saliva and tears) or myositis (inflammation of the muscles). In all of them, the immune system attacks the body itself causing this type of consequences that affect the day to day.
The biggest challenge: early diagnosis
According to him Dr. Germán Peces-Barbavice president pulmonologist of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), “Systemic Autoimmune Diseases (SAS) are more frequent in women (1-3 men for every 7-9 women) and usually appear in age young”. The lack of knowledge of the causes of the appearance of these diseases and the diversity of their symptoms make their diagnosis difficult.
For example, one person with systemic lupus erythematosus It can manifest anemia and hair loss that can be confused with a poor diet or another pathology. With other autoimmune diseases the same can happen and cause the diagnosis to be delayed up to 1 year. This is serious.
Dr. Marcos López Hoyos, president of the Spanish Society of Immunology (SEI) points out that these are “potentially fatal diseases, which have treatment. But, if that treatment is applied late, they can cause irreversible damage to any organ or tissue and , therefore, sequels or serious complications of the disease”. This should be kept in mind.
What are the expectations?
The efforts being made regarding systemic autoimmune diseases are encouraging. What is being promoted is much more complete training so that primary care physicians can refer a patient to a specialist without delay if they suspect that he or she may have a systemic autoimmune disease.
Likewise, the approach to these diseases should always be done jointly from different specialties. In this way, the treatment will be comprehensive and diseases will be prevented from causing damage to internal organs that might be really serious. There is still a need to give more visibility to these diseases whose prevalence is so low that it makes them great unknowns.
