• Sebastian Luger, Patrick N Harter, Michel Mittelbronn, Marlies Wagner, and Christian Foerch.
• Department of Neurology, Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. sebastian.luger@kgu.de.
• Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2013 May 1; 31 (3 Suppl 77): 93-5.

AbstractFamilial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autoinflammatory autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations of the Mediterranean fever (MEFV) gene on chromosome 16p. Clinically, it is characterized by recurrent episodes of fever and painful polyserositis. An association of FMF with systemic vasculitis, namely Henoch-Schönlein purpura, polyarteritis nodosa and Behçet's disease has been described. Neurological manifestations of FMF occur rarely and include demyelinating (MS-like) lesions, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, and pseudotumour cerebri. Hitherto hardly known, we herein present a young patient with a genetically proven FMF who suffered a brain stem infarction during a typical FMF attack. After a careful diagnostic workup including cerebrospinal fluid analysis, intra-arterial angiography and leptomeningeal biopsy, a FMF-associated central nervous system vasculitis was identified as the cause of stroke. The pathophysiological background and potential therapeutic strategies are discussed.

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