INTRODUCTION To report on efficacy, tolerability and safety of rituximab in children with refractory autoimmune diseases. CASE PRESENTATION Five patients (juvenile dermatomyositis, Wegener's granulomatosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis with systemic lupus erythematosus) were treated with rituximab and followed for a median time of 2.5 years. Two patie...

The pathogenetic role of anticardiolipin antibodies (aCLs) in patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) without cerebral infarcts remains elusive. Magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) has proved to be a sensitive tool for detecting diffuse microscopic brain damage in NPSLE patients. In this study we examined the correlation between grey and white matter magnetization t...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Neuroimaging techniques have increased our knowledge of the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) and have been useful in supporting the diagnosis. Nevertheless, new imaging techniques are needed to unravel the exact pathogenesis and to provide diagnostic criteria for NPSLE. In this preliminary study, we investigated whether diffusion-weigh...

Bullous systemic lupus erythematosus has rarely been described in pediatric lupus population and the real prevalence of childhood-onset bullous systemic lupus erythematosus has not been reported. From January 1983 to November 2013, 303 childhood-onset SLE (c-SLE) patients were followed at the Pediatric Rheumatology Unit of the Childreńs Institute of Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicin...