This can injure and destroy vital organs like such as the joints, kidneys, brain and heart. Dr. Sessoms I'd like to remind people that lupus used to be called fatal. If you got it that was it. It is not that way. The worst moment for me was learning to cope with it.
Some people have very mild disease other people have one or two episodes of problems.
Some patients have serious problems for many many years. Steroids and other drugs that affect the immune system remain the major drug therapy for lupus. One promising treatment on the horizon is stem cell transplants. We are going to be doing stem cells transplants here at Baylor and the Methodist hospital. We're going to be doing rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and lupus patients.