Psychiatric disorders and MRI brain findings in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and Behcet's disease: a cross sectional study.

INTRODUCTION Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) shows some similarities to neuroBehçet\'s disease (NBD). AIM OF THE WORK to investigate and compare the psychiatric manifestations in a cohort of patients of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE ) versus Behcet's Disease (BD). Also, a comparison of MRI brain findings in SLE patients and BD patients presented with psychiatric disorders was done. Finally, we correlate these manifestations with disease activity indices of the patients. PATIENT AND METHOD The study included 50 patients of SLE, 34 patients of Behcet's disease (BD) and 44 healthy volunteers as a control group. All patients were subjected to psychiatric interview to diagnose any psychiatric disorders clinically. MRI brain was done for SLE patients and BD patients presented with psychiatric disorders. Overall clinical assessment and disease activity of SLE and BD were evaluated. RESULTS Psychiatric disorders were detected in 28 (56%) of SLE patients which were significantly more prevalent than psychiatric disorders that were detected in 9 (26.47%) of BD patients. Psychiatric disorders in healthy volunteers were significantly less prevalent than either SLE patients or BD patients. MRI brain of SLE patients presented with psychiatric disorders commonly showed cerebral white matter abnormalities while in BD patients presented with psychiatric disorders commonly showed brain stem lesions. CONCLUSION (1) High prevalence of psychiatric disorders in SLE and BD with a higher significant prevalence in SLE. (2) Evident MRI brain findings in SLE and BD patients presented with psychiatric disorders.