The cranial computed tomographic findings in patients with neurologic manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus.

The clinical and computed tomographic (CT) findings in 17 patients with neurological manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus were analyzed. Two patients presented with stroke syndromes; they did not have systemic manifestations of SLE at the time the neurological disturbances developed. Of 15 patients with prominent systemic evidence of SLE, 9 presented with stroke syndromes or seizures. CT showed a hypodense lesions representing infarction (7 cases) or hyperdense lesions representing intracerebral hematomas (2 cases). Six patients with gradual onset of neurobehavioral symptoms showed cerebral atrophy without infarction or hemorrhage.