Central Nervous System Imaging in Rheumatic Diseases

Central nervous system (CNS) involvement is seen across a variety of rheumatic diseases. Common CNS manifestations include cerebrovascular events (such as ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis), seizures, headaches, demyelinating lesions (such as optic neuritis, myelitis, parenchymal lesions), meningeal disease (leptomeningeal and pachymeningeal involvement, meningitis), and others. While most patients have other systemic symptoms of their rheumatic disease at the time of developing neurologic complications, some may present with CNS disease as the first symptom of their rheumatic disease. This review discusses rheumatic diseases with CNS manifestations and provides neuroimaging findings observed among affected individuals.