Recovery from rheumatoid cerebral vasculitis by low-dose methotrexate.

We report the successful management of cerebral vasculitis in a 46-year-old woman with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis with low-dose methotrexate. She suddenly developed dysarthria and left hemiparesis. Magnetic resonance imaging disclosed ischemia of the right pons, and angiography demonstrated cerebral vasculitis of vertebro-basilar arteries. The vasculitis was refractory with high-dose steroid therapy, which had only transient clinical benefit, and evolution to the pontine infarction followed. Her clinical status showed marked improvement in association with recovery of the vascular abnormalities after the initiation of the methotrexate therapy.