Neuropsychiatric Lupus and The Curious Case of Molly – What Does This Case Teach Us? – Prof Hughes

Prof Graham Hughes introduces Molly, a 14-year-old girl from Ireland. She had a butterfly rash, hair loss, DNA binding (Anti- DNA antibodies), low C3 but no renal disease. She did not respond to steroid treatment and azathioprine but when Pulse cyclophosphamide 500mgs was administered as treatment, she had clear cerebral improvement and at a 2-year follow-up had clinical and serological improvement.

What is this patient teaching us? –

According to Estes & Christian (1971), cerebral involvement occurs in up to 60% of SLE patients.

The Study by Jarpa et al., (2011) found that:

They concluded –

According to Calderon –