Subclinical multisystemic autoimmunity presenting as a progressive myelopathy

Lupus. 1997;6(8):675-7. doi: 10.1177/096120339700600809.

Abstract

Autoimmunity can manifest clinically in many ways; however, despite the various efforts to classify autoimmune disorders into specific disease entities, the borders between these disorders remain, in many cases, unclear. In this report we describe a young woman with subclinical Sjögren's syndrome and biliary cirrhosis, who presents clinically with symptoms exclusively from the central nervous system. This neurological syndrome is consistent with a progressive myelopathy. Although the patient has a serologically and histologically confirmed multisystemic autoimmune disorder, she fulfills none of the classification criteria for the diagnosis of a specific connective tissue disease.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Autoimmunity*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / complications*
  • Sjogren's Syndrome / complications*
  • Spinal Cord Diseases / etiology*