Abstract

NUNES, Ana; VIEIRA, Ana  and  FREITAS, João. Demyelinating brain lesions in a Crohn’s patient under adalimumab. J Port Gastrenterol. [online]. 2013, vol.20, n.2, pp.79-82. ISSN 0872-8178.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpg.2012.07.004.

Demyelinating conditions of the central nervous system can be associated with inflammatory bowel disease, but since the introduction of tumour necrosis factor antagonista therapies, a number of cases of demyelinating disease associated with the treatment are being described. We report the case of a 36-year-old female, with Crohn’s disease, treated with adalimumab for eighteen months. She developed severe headache and the investigations disclosed several demyelinating lesions in the sub cortical white-matter of the frontal and parietal lobes. The suspension of adalimumab resulted in symptomatic relief in a few weeks, but the brain lesions persisted after eight months of follow-up. The cause of these lesions in inflammatory bowel disease patients treated with tumour necrosis factor antagonists is not yet clearly established, but a raised awareness to this possibility is important, as an early change of treatment is recommended.

Keywords : Demyelination; Crohn’s disease; Adalimumab.

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