Introduction:

Systemic lupus erythematosus has multiple ways of presentation; among cardiac manifestations, pericardial involvement is frequent, but it is rare that its debut form is the pericardial effusion.

Objective:

To emphasize the importance of early diagnosis of one of the less frequent forms of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Clinical case:

We present the case of a 50-year-old patient, who had been admitted for 3 months because of chest pain, dyspnea, cough, joint, dermatological and general symptoms. After the suspicion and the clinical, hematological, imaging and skin biopsy, pericardial effusion was diagnosed early due to systemic lupus erythematosus. Timely treatment with steroids was imposed, and the evolution was favorable.

Conclusions:

Despite the low index of suspicion, the systemic lupus erythematosus was taken into account and the analytical determinations that confirmed the diagnosis were made.

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