Cerebral vasculitis complicated with ruptured aneurysm of the basilar artery in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

Time course of changes in hemostasis were investigated in 68 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. DIC syndrome and anemia were recorded in 23 and 20 patients, respectively. Three RA sufferers were free of anemia. A course of plasma-pheresis proved effective against DIC syndrome in 12 anemic and 2 nonanemic patients. Alleviation of DIC syndrome occurred in association with improvement in the red cell count and inhibition of rheumatoid process activity. In persistent DIC syndrome a trend to normalization of the above parameters was insignificant.