The biggest challenge is early detection and timely treatment to prevent irreversible organ damage in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases.
Patient with lupus on the face. Photo: Shutterstock.
In developing the Multidisciplinary Symposium on Systemic Autoimmune Diseases (SAS), focused on understanding the challenges and challenges that still exist today and how to improve both governance 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, they provided important information.
What are systemic autoimmune diseases?
As the AEDV correctly defines, “these are pathologies that affect different organs and systems of the body, which requires the cooperation of different specialists to manage the people who suffer from them.” Because the cause is usually unknown, the first diagnoses are usually wrong, and this makes the diagnosis almost always late.
Common to all systemic autoimmune diseases is that there is a malfunction of the immune system that causes this attack on cells and the body’s own tissues. Inadequate, embarrassing response that leads patients to visit several specialists before they can receive an adequate diagnosis of the disease they suffer from, according to a publication in the 20 Minutes of Spain.
Types of systemic autoimmune diseases
There are several types of systemic autoimmune diseases. One of them is lupus erythematosus, where the skin, joints, kidneys and brain can be affected. Scleroderma is another disease that would fall into this group, which causes excessive collagen production, which can even cause deformities in the body and skin.
Other systemic autoimmune diseases would be vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels), Sjögren’s syndrome (destruction of the 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 effect, which affects daily life.
The biggest challenge: early diagnosis
According to Dr. Herman Peches-Barba, Vice President Pulmonology of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), “Systemic Autoimmune Diseases (SAS) are more common in women (1-3 men every 7-9 women) and usually appear at a young age. Lack of knowledge about the causes of these diseases and the variety of their symptoms make it difficult to diagnose.
For example, a person with systemic lupus erythematosus may experience anemia and hair loss, which can be confused with poor diet or other pathology. In other autoimmune diseases, the same can happen and lead to a delay in diagnosis of up to 1 year. This is serious.
Dr Marcos Lopez Hoyos, president of the Spanish Society of Immunology (SEI), said these were “potentially fatal diseases that can be treated.” But if this treatment is applied late, they can cause irreversible damage to any organ or tissue and therefore to the consequences or serious complications of the disease. This must be borne in mind.
What are the expectations?
Efforts to address systemic autoimmune diseases are encouraging. What is encouraged is much more complete training so that primary care physicians can immediately refer the patient to a specialist if they suspect that he or she may have systemic autoimmune disease.
In the same way, the approach to these diseases must always be carried out jointly by different specialties. In this way the treatment will be comprehensive and the diseases will be prevented from causing damage to the internal organs, which can be really serious. There is still a need to give greater visibility to these diseases, the prevalence of which is so low that it makes them largely unknown.
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