Clinical reasoning: a case of Wegener granulomatosis complicated by seizures and headaches: curiouser and curiouser

[Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome in a patient presenting granulomatosis with polyangiitis]

BACKGROUND

Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS) is characterised by clinical neurological features of sudden onset and brain MRI findings such as T2/Flair white matter hyperintensities. RPLS can occur in autoimmune diseases, and rarely in systemic vasculitis. We report a case of RPLS in a woman presenting granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's granulomatosis).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A 22-year-old female patient was treated with methylprednisolone pulses for granulomatosis with polyangiitis and neurological impairment. A few hours after the second pulse, the patient had seizures, blindness and confusion associated with high blood pressure and acute renal failure. MRI revealed a high-intensity area on T2-Flair weighted images of the occipital-temporal lobes. The patient was treated with antiepileptic and antihypertensive medications, oral steroids and cyclophosphamide; the clinical and radiological findings proved reversible over the ensuing days.

DISCUSSION

The occurrence of RPLS in systemic vasculitis is rare. Six cases of RPLS associated with granulomatosis and polyangiitis have been reported. It appears important to screen for high blood pressure in patients recently treated with corticosteroids for vasculitis as this condition may represent a precipitating factor for RPLS.

[Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS) associated with Wegener's granulomatosis: a case report and review of the literature]

Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS) is characterized by sudden onset of headaches, visual disorders, decreased consciousness, and convulsion associated with brain edema occurring in the occipital lobe. Several different causes including malignant hypertension, eclampsia, renal failure, and use of immunosuppressants have been reported in patients with RPLS. Our patient was a 45-year-old man who presented with fever, arthralgia, and melena approximately 1 year previously and received the diagnosis of Wegener's granulomatosis. Following steroid therapy his symptoms ameliorated; however, during the course of the illness he developed tension-type headache, nausea and vomiting, and bilateral loss of visual acuity. On admission, his visual acuity was markedly decreased without any abnormal findings in the optic fundus. There was no neurological deficit except the visual symptoms. Imaging of the head revealed multiple lesions in the white and gray matter of the bilateral occipital lobe and cerebellar hemisphere, which proved vasogenic edematous lesions by the hyperintense signals in T(2) weighted, FLAIR, and diffusion weighted images, suggesting the diagnosis of RPLS. Treatment with antihypertensive drug and glycerol was initiated and the patient made a full clinical recovery within a few days. The pathogenesis of RPLS is not fully understood. Our case was not on any immunosuppressant therapy at the time of onset of RPLS, and his hypertension was mild and transient without renal failure. It is possible that RPLS in our patient might be a manifestation related to Wegener's granulomatosis-mediated vascular endothelial injury.