Case Report
Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES) as an Initial Presentation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
| Babu Philip1, Sandhya Limaye1, Thanakrishnan G2 and Arun Aggarwal3* | |
| 1Department of Immunology, Concord Hospital, Concord NSW 2039, Australia | |
| 2Department of Intensive Care, Concord Hospital, Concord NSW 2039, Australia | |
| 3Department of Neurology, Concord Hospital, Concord NSW 2039, Australia | |
| Corresponding Author : | Arun Aggarwal Associate Professor Department of Neurology Concord Hospital, Concord NSW 2039, Australia E-mail: [email protected] |
| Received April 09, 2012; Accepted May 05, 2012; Published May 18, 2012 | |
| Citation: Philip B, Limaye S, Thanakrishnan G, Arun A (2012) Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES) as an Initial Presentation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). J Clin Case Rep 2:144. doi:10.4172/2165-7920.1000144 | |
| Copyright: © 2012 Philip B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
| Peer-reviewed Full Article 
Abstract
Background: Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES) refers to a clinico-radiological syndrome characterized by headache, altered mental function, visual disturbance, seizures and transient posterior changes on neuro-imaging.
Case report: We present a case of a 38 year old female who presented with sudden onset behavioural change, visual disturbance and subsequent witnessed generalized tonic-clonic seizure. A cerebral MRI showed extensive signal abnormality consistent with vasogenic oedema in the cerebellar hemispheres and subcortical white matter of the occipito-parietal lobes consistent with a neuro-radiological diagnosis of Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES).
Conclusion: We describe a case of a dramatic first presentation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) with neurological manifestations of PRES, occurring in the absence of accompanying evidence of lupus nephritis, cerebritis or other usual causative factors, such as immunosuppression.
