A Case of Peripheral Neuropathy in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated with Leflunomide

Hyun Chul Kim; Jae-Bum Jun; Kyeong A Lee; Dam Kim; Hee-Sun Kim; Seung Hyun Kim

doi:10.4078/jkra.2008.15.3.273

Journal List > J Korean Rheum Assoc > v.15(3) > 1003635

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Kim, Jun, Lee, Kim, Kim, and Kim: A Case of Peripheral Neuropathy in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated with Leflunomide

Original Article

J Korean Rheum Assoc 2008;15(3):273-276.

Published online: 20 September 2008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4078/jkra.2008.15.3.273

A Case of Peripheral Neuropathy in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated with Leflunomide

Hyun Chul Kim¹, Jae-Bum Jun², Kyeong A Lee¹, Dam Kim¹, Hee-Sun Kim², Seung Hyun Kim³

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

²The Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

³Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

Received 13 May 2008 Accepted 2 September 2008

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Leflunomide is a new disease-modifying drug licensed for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Recently, neuropathy has been reported with leflunomide. We report a case of peripheral neuropathy in rheumatoid arthritis treated with leflunomide. Nerve conduction study and electromyogram show sensory-motor polyneuropathy of both upper and lower limbs. Leflunomide medication was discontinued and cholestryamine washout was performed with some improvement in a couple of weeks.

Keywords: Leflunomide, Neuropathy, Arthritis Rheumatoid

References

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Fig. 1.

MRI imaging of L-spine showed diffuse disc bulging of L4∼5.

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