title: [Rheumatoid arthritis and meningeal nodules].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rheumatoid nodules are possible extra-articular manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis. These lesions are mainly located in subcutaneous tissues but may also rarely affect deep organs, exceptionally the meninges.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report herein a case of meningeal nodules observed in a 52-year-old man with rheumatoid arthritis who underwent brain MRI to explore an acute visual impairment. Subsequent MRIs showed similar new lesions contrasting with total regression of the initially observed lesions. The final control brain MRI performed four years after the onset of the ocular symptoms disclosed total involution of all the extra-axial nodular lesions, a course highly suggestive of meningeal rheumatoid nodules.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  During the follow-up period of this case, the patient was treated with methotrexate at doses too low to cross the blood brain barrier. Consequently, it is most likely that the meningeal lesions developed during the natural course of the disease. Despite the non-specific features of the first imaging findings, the radiological changes observed over time were consistent with the final diagnosis of rheumatoid nodules.
authors.affiliation: Service de neuroradiologie, CHU de Dijon, 3, rue Faubourg-Raines, 21033 Dijon cedex, France.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Richioud
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Béjot
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ornetti
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ricolfi
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Sautreaux
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ben Salem
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008578:Meninges / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D012218:Rheumatoid Nodule / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology