RESUMO
To detect cerebral lesions in neuropsychiatrically symptomatic or asymptomatic patients with systemic lupus Erythematosus [SLE] and probe the relationship of these lesions to clinical and laboratory variable. Brain magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] was performed on twenty patients with SLE under the age of 50. The patients were inpatients [thirteen were from Kasr El Eini Hospital and seven were from other private hospitals]. The patients [50% of the total number of patients] showed MRI findings in the brain. Four of them [20% of the total] showed abnormal high intensity spots [HIS] on T[2] weighted images and they were neuropsychiatrically asymptomatic. Another four patients [20%] combined abnormal HIS and brain atrophy and these patients were neuropsychiatrically symptomatic. The remaining two patients [10%] with positive MRl findings showed only brain atrophy and they were also neuropsychiatrically symptomatic. Our results suggest MRl as an important technique for detecting the extent of brain injury in cerebral lupus. In addition MRl proved to be a sensitive procedure for detection of the asymptomatic HIS cerebral lesions. A follow up study of these asymptomatic patients with HIS is necessary to clarify their clinical significance