Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS) in a Recently Released Prisoner with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

BACKGROUND Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has myriad manifestations that can affect any organ system in the body. Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is a disease of uncontrolled lymphocyte and macrophage proliferation and activation, which has various triggers, including autoimmune disorder, viral infection, and malignancy. We report here on MAS as a complication of adult SLE, a rare association in the literature, in a patient with an unknown past medical history. CASE REPORT A 38-year-old male patient presented with severe muscle weakness, diffuse abdominal cramps with vomiting and incontinence of stool, confusion, cough, and sweating increasing in severity for about 1 week. He was unable to give a coherent history and according to his family had been released from prison 3 weeks prior, having been in the corrections system for much of his adult life. The diagnosis of new-onset fulminant SLE complicated by MAS was made, noting the profound degree of bone marrow involvement, neuropsychiatric changes, and hyperferritinemia. CONCLUSIONS Many of the symptoms, signs, and laboratory findings of SLE overlap with those of MAS, and concomitant presence of both of these disease poses unique diagnostic challenges as well as extreme risk to the patient. A robust set of criteria for identifying MAS in the setting of a confounding underlying rheumatological illness does not exist in the adult population; this case illustrates the approach taken by our team to come to this diagnosis.

Cognitive dysfunction in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which cognitive dysfunction (CD) observed in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) exceeds that seen in a matched control group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to estimate the prevalence of CD in SLE in a community-based sample. METHODS: A random subsample of 31 patients with SLE was compared to patients with RA matched by age, sex, and race and derived from the same patient population. Cognitive function was assessed by the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM). The primary outcome was the total throughput score (number of correct responses divided by the time taken for those responses averaged over all subtests), adjusted for premorbid intelligence, neuromuscular efficiency, disease activity, damage, depression, fatigue, and health-related quality of life. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in mean throughput scores between patients in the SLE and RA groups in any subtest of the ANAM or in the total throughput score. The frequency of CD, defined as either total scores > 1.5 SD below the mean of the RA population, or 4 or more ANAM subtests each > 1.5 SD below the RA mean, was similar in patients with SLE and in RA controls. CONCLUSION: We found no differences in cognitive function between patients with SLE and RA, suggesting that the CD found in some patients with SLE may represent the consequences of a chronic and/or inflammatory disease rather than SLE-related central nervous system damage.