Can anticoagulation therapy in cerebral venous thrombosis associated with Behçet's disease be stopped without relapse?

There is as yet no consensus on the treatment of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) in Behçet's disease, and the place of anticoagulation is also still being debated. This report is of a series of seven patients with Behçet's disease (BD)-associated CVT, for which anticoagulation was stopped, and discusses the possibility of stopping anticoagulation during follow-up while receiving optimal treatment for BD. The diagnosis of BD was established during follow-up, which lasted a median of 120 [range: 60-1490] days after CVT diagnosis. The median duration of anticoagulation therapy was 29.5 months. On stopping anticoagulation, concomitant treatment then included colchicine, steroids and azathioprine, all introduced after BD was diagnosed. With a median follow-up of 25 months after anticoagulation interruption, only one relapse of CVT was observed. No relapse of CVT or other venous thrombosis was observed in the six patients treated by steroids associated with an immunosuppressant or colchicine. Our results emphasize that corticosteroids are essential for the treatment of BD-associated CVT, and that anticoagulant therapy may be safely stopped during follow-up in the presence of optimal BD treatment (steroids alone or with immunosuppressive drugs).

[Central nervous system lymphoma revealed by lymphocytic meningitis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus: An unusual association]. / Méningite lymphocytaire chez une patiente lupique révélant un lymphome cérébral primitif : une association rare.

INTRODUCTION: We report an unusual observation of central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma in a 60-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus and fatal outcome. OBSERVATION: The patient had systemic erythematosus lupus for 7 years, treated with mycophenolate mofetil and developed lymphocytic meningitis in 2015 associated to the presence of EBV in the cerebrospinal fluid and a necrotic vermis' lesion. Diagnosis of large B-cell lymphoma was histologically confirmed from stereotaxic biopsy, shortly before she died from neurological complications. CONCLUSION: Even though the current association is unusual, lymphocytic meningitis with hypoglycorrachia in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus may reveal CNS lymphoma and diagnosis confirmation requires stereotaxic biopsy in order not to delay specific therapeutic management.