Severe inflammation may be caused by hyperferritinemia of pseudo-pseudo Meigs' syndrome in lupus patients: two cases reports and a literature review

Pseudo-pseudo Meigs' syndrome or Tjalma syndrome is a rare manifestation of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus defined by the presence of ascites, pleural effusions, and an elevated cancer antigen 125 level. In this case, we described a patient with lupus who presented with sudden impaired renal function and subsequent development of massive ascites with marked high serum ferritin. Hyperferritinemia is one of the abnormal laboratory findings in severe inflammation with ferritin functioning as an inflammatory marker. However, its correlation with lupus activity remains unclear. Therefore, a review of the literature regarding pseudo-pseudo Meigs' syndrome associated with lupus and high ferritin level in this disease was carried out.