Lupus Erythematosus and Brain Scanning

Excerpt

To the editor: We were concerned to read the paper in the December 1974 issue on the interpretation of a positive brain scan in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and localising neurologic signs (1). While not disputing that the patients described may have had cerebral vasculitis, we believe that opportunistic infection of the central nervous system is an equally likely cause of this clinical feature when such patients are receiving immunosuppressive therapy. This is exemplified by three cases, (two with cerebral toxoplasmosis, one with brain abscesses due to nocardial infection) described below and shown in Figure 1. We believe that