ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The relevance of the immunosuppressive drug tacrolimus in the prevention of rejection and graft-versus-host disease in transplanted patients is beyond all doubt. However, tacrolimus often has neurotoxic effects, including severe conditions such as posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy syndrome. CASE REPORT: A 75-year-old male who had undergone a kidney transplantation five years earlier, for which he was receiving treatment with tacrolimus and mycophenolate. He also had advanced Parkinson's disease, treated with several dopamine agonists. The patient visited the emergency department after a week-long history of visual hallucinations, delirium, expansive mood, confusion and headache. The focal psychogeriatric examination revealed psychosis secondary to dopaminergic agonists as the first diagnostic option, without excluding other possible iatrogenic causes despite the tacrolimus being within the therapeutic range (8.3 ng/mL). Both cranial computed tomography, which did not show any significant findings, and a magnetic resonance scan, in which a bilateral parietooccipital oedema was observed, were performed, this latter finding being compatible with posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy syndrome. While the patient was in hospital, tacrolimus was replaced by everolimus, and the dopaminergic medication was adjusted, resulting in a swift and full remission of the clinical signs and symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy syndrome should be considered in patients with a history of organ transplantation treated with immunosuppressive drugs who have an acute onset condition with neurological or psychiatric symptoms.
TITLE: Sindrome de leucoencefalopatia posterior reversible en un paciente con enfermedad de Parkinson y sintomatologia inicial psiquiatrica: una presentacion clinica compleja.Introduccion. La relevancia del farmaco inmunosupresor tacrolimus en la prevencion del rechazo y la enfermedad de injerto contra huesped en pacientes trasplantados es indiscutible. Sin embargo, con frecuencia, el tacrolimus presenta efectos neurotoxicos, incluyendo cuadros graves, como el sindrome de leucoencefalopatia posterior reversible. Caso clinico. Varon de 75 años, con antecedentes de trasplante renal hace cinco años, en tratamiento con tacrolimus y micofenolato, y de enfermedad de Parkinson avanzada, en tratamiento con varios agonistas dopaminergicos. Acudio a urgencias por un cuadro de una semana de evolucion consistente en alucinaciones visuales, delirios, animo expansivo, confusion y cefalea. La exploracion psicogeriatrica por focos mostro como primera opcion diagnostica una psicosis secundaria a agonistas dopaminergicos, sin excluir otras causas yatrogenas a pesar de encontrarse el tacrolimus en el rango terapeutico (8,3 ng/mL). Se realizaron una tomografia computarizada craneal, que no mostro hallazgos significativos, y una resonancia magnetica, en la que se visualizo un edema parietooccipital bilateral, hallazgo compatible con un sindrome de leucoencefalopatia posterior reversible. Durante el ingreso se sustituyo el tacrolimus por everolimus y se ajusto la medicacion dopaminergica, con lo que se produjo de forma rapida una remision completa del cuadro. Conclusiones. El diagnostico de sindrome de leucoencefalopatia posterior reversible debe considerarse en los pacientes con antecedentes de trasplante de organo en tratamiento con farmacos inmunosupresores que presentan un cuadro de instauracion aguda con sintomas neurologicos o psiquiatricos.
