Prevalence, Volume and distribution of white substance damages in young and adults patients with systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract

The Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease, multisystem, characterized by varied clinical manifestations depending on the organ or system affected. In general children and teenagers present a more severe form of this disease. In their case, the disease development and damage made by this are faster than in the case of adult patients with SLE. But both children and adult nervous system is affected by SLE, and their participation is also associated with a worse prognosis and more cumulative damage. The involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) in SLE ranges from 25-70%, depending on the applied diagnostic criteria. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most sensitive test used to detect brain changes and brain anatomical abnormalities, including cerebral atrophy, being used both in SLE and other connective tissue diseases. MRI in patients with SLE may experience localized or diffuse brain atrophy and white substance damages. Thus, this study aims to examine the prevalence, volume, and distribution of white substance damages in adults and young SLE, using MR images and comparing the prevalence of then between these ages groups. (AU)