Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Sep 16, 2022; 10(26): 9447-9453
Published online Sep 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i26.9447
Systemic lupus erythematosus presenting with progressive massive ascites and CA-125 elevation indicating Tjalma syndrome? A case report
Jun-Di Wang, Yan-Fei Yang, Xian-Feng Zhang, Jiao Huang
Jun-Di Wang, Xian-Feng Zhang, Jiao Huang, Department of Rheumatic Disease, Affiliated Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Yan-Fei Yang, Department of Respiratory Disease, Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Huang J and Wang JD found interesting cases and designed the manuscript; Yang YF wrote the manuscript; Zhang XF provided revision guidance and the basis for polishing and publishing; All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission Medical and Health Science and Technology Project, No. 2020KY686.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jiao Huang, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Rheumatic Disease, Affiliated Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 261 Huansha Road, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China. huangjiao2001@163.com
Received: April 23, 2022
Peer-review started: April 23, 2022
First decision: June 16, 2022
Revised: July 6, 2022
Accepted: August 11, 2022
Article in press: August 11, 2022
Published online: September 16, 2022
Processing time: 132 Days and 3.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Ascites, pleural effusion and raised CA-125 in the absence of malignancy in systemic lupus erythematosus is known as Tjalma syndrome.

CASE SUMMARY

We report a special case of a systemic lupus erythematosus patient presenting with Tjalma syndrome. She presented with ascites and elevated CA-125 in the absence of benign or malignant ovarian tumor and no pleural effusions, which is an unusual presentation for this rare condition.

CONCLUSION

Tjalma syndrome can present with massive ascites alone without pleural or pericardial effusions.

Keywords: Tjalma syndrome; Pseudo–pseudo Meigs’ syndrome; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Ascites, CA-125, Case report

Core Tip: We report a special case of a systemic lupus erythematosus patient presenting with pseudo- pseudo Meigs’ syndrome. She presented with ascites and elevated CA-125 in the absence of benign or malignant ovarian tumor and no pleural effusions, which is an unusual presentation for this rare condition: Tjalma syndrome can present with massive ascites alone without pleural or pericardial effusions.