Marked inflammation in catastrophic longitudinal myelitis associated with systemic lupus erythematosus Journal Article uri icon
Overview
abstract
  • Catastrophic longitudinal myelitis is an extremely rare neurologic manifestation of collagen vascular disease, described heretofore in 11 cases of SLE and 1 of Sjogren's Syndrome. This report documents markedly abnormal and worsening CSF findings on sequential CSF examinations over a period of three days (WBC >1500 cells/microL, >80% neutrophils, markedly elevated protein, and extremely low glucose levels) in the absence of infection. These abnormalities cleared rapidly with institution of immunosuppressive therapy so that a third CSF exam done within three days revealed almost complete normalization of CSF values. These findings suggest that in some cases of CLM a strong inflammatory component may be present, while in others, other pathogenic factors may predominate.

  • Link to Article
    publication date
  • 2007
  • published in
  • Lupus  Journal
  • Research
    keywords
  • Autoimmune Diseases
  • Nervous System Diseases
  • Skin Diseases
  • Spinal Cord
  • Additional Document Info
    volume
  • 16
  • issue
  • 10