Initial evaluation of the arthritic patient. Piecing together the diagnostic clues.

Evaluation of the arthritic patient as outlined in this article should enable the physician to formulate a working diagnosis that will suggest appropriate therapy. Initial evaluation includes thorough history taking, general and rheumatologic examination, selected laboratory tests (including synovial fluid analysis where appropriate), and radiologic studies. An individualized approach to patients is necessary, since each of the rheumatic diseases can affect patients in different ways.

The selective value of computed tomography of the brain in cerebritis due to systemic lupus erythematosus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and steroid effects on the brain were measured by computed tomography (CT). Of 14 patients with SLE cerebritis, 10 (71%) had marked cortical atrophy and 4 (29%) minimal atrophy. None were normal by CT. Controls included 22 patients with SLE without cerebritis receiving corticosteroids; this group had normal CT scans in 16 (73%) and minimal cortical atrophy in the remaining 6 (27%). Follow-up CT on 5 patients with cerebritis was unchanged. CT of the brain is a minimally invasive technique for documenting SLE cerebritis. CT may also help differentiate cerebritis from the neuropsychiatric side effects of corticosteroids.

Cerebral atrophy in systemic lupus erythematosus: steroid- or disease-induced phenomenon?

Thirty-two patients with systemic lupus erythematosus were evaluated clinically and with computed tomography in order to determine whether the occurrence of cerebral atrophy in systemic lupus erythematosus was due to the steroid therapy or the cerebral manifestations of the disease itself. Of these patients, 14 had central nervous system manifestations of the disease (lupus cerebritis) and 12 of the 14 were on long-term steroid therapy. Eighteen patients had no clinical evidence of lupus cerebritis and all were on long-term steroids. Of the 14 lupus cerebritis patients, 10 showed moderate cerebral atrophy, four minimal atrophy, and none were normal. Of the 18 patients without lupus cerebritis, none had moderate atrophy, six (33%) showed minimal atrophy, and 12 (67%) had normal CT scans. This data suggest that it is the lupus cerebritis rather than the steroid therapy that is responsible for the moderate cerebral atrophy. In patients suspected of lupus cerebritis, steroids should not be withheld because of concern for steroid-induced atrophy. Rather, the dose may need to be increased.

Bacterial monarthritis due to Neisseria meningitidis in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Two patients with systemic lupus erythematosus developed monarticular infectious arthritis, in which Neisseria meningitidis was recovered from knee synovial fluid. In one instance, the sole manifestation of meningococcal disease was a chronic, indolent, erosive monarthritis. In the second, a febrile, bacteremic illness presented with an acute, septic arthritis.