Antimalarial myopathy in a systemic lupus erythematosus patient with quadriparesis and seizures: a case-based review.

Weakness, seizures, and encephalopathy have a broad differential diagnosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We present a case of a 26-year-old female with a recent diagnosis of SLE who experienced a clinical deterioration with quadriparesis, seizures, and encephalopathy. Her quadriparesis was found to be secondary to biopsy-proven hydroxychloroquine-induced myopathy with concomitant inflammatory myopathy. Her seizures and encephalopathy were suspected to be multifactorial in the setting of sepsis and critical illness with possible contributions from neuropsychiatric manifestations of SLE and macrophage activation syndrome. She experienced a dramatic clinical recovery with discontinuation of hydroxychloroquine, treatment of lupus disease activity with mycophenolate mofetil and prednisone, and antibiotic treatment for methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) bacteremia. This case-based review provides a systematic approach to quadriparesis, seizures, and encephalopathy in patients with SLE and an evidence-based discussion of antimalarial myopathy, which is of critical importance given the widespread use of antimalarial medications for rheumatologic diseases.

Pathologic manifestations of levamisole-adulterated cocaine exposure.

Rheumatic manifestations of cocaine have been well described, but more recently, a dramatic increase in the levamisole-adulterated cocaine supply in the United States has disclosed unique pathologic consequences that are distinct from pure cocaine use. Most notably, patients show skin lesions and renal dysfunction in the setting of extremely high perinuclear anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (p-ANCA). Unexpectedly, antibodies to myeloperoxidase, the typical target of p-ANCA, are relatively low if at all present. This discrepancy is due to the fact that p-ANCA seen in association with levamisole-adulterated cocaine exposure is often directed against atypical p-ANCA-associated antigens within the neutrophil granules such as human neutrophil elastase, lactoferrin, and cathepsin G. Biopsies of the skin lesions reveal leukocytoclastic vasculitis often involving both superficial and deep dermal vessels. Renal injury most typically manifests as crescentic and necrotizing pauci-immune glomerulonephritis. In this review, the manifestations of levamisole-adulterated cocaine-induced vasculitis are discussed with an emphasis on the typical histomorphologic findings seen on biopsy. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1764738711370019 .