200 Section - Rehabilitation Medicine in Post-Operative Syringomyelia with Co-Existence of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus : A Case Report from Rural Area in West Sumatera, Indonesia

Post Operative Syringomyelia with Co-Existence of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Case Description: A 39 years old female presented with persistence pain in shoulder and back, followed by sensory disturbance in upper and lower limb. MRI showed syringomyelia cervicothoracic with abscess in soft tissue at C5-C7 level which is very likely to have involved the spinous process. Patient was also diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus from 16 years ago and regularly consume corticosteroid. After medical and surgical treatment, patient received rehabilitation intervention in the form of Infrared Radiation Modality. The intervention was given for 6 weeks from early may until mid june 2025 with 15 minutes duration of IRR. Patient was evaluated every week, and there was reduction in pain from 8/10 to 3/10 using Numeric pain Rating Scale (NRS)

Discussions: Syringomyelia is a rare disorder in which a syrinx is formed in the spine that grows with time, causing damage to the entire spine, followed by muscle weakness and pain. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by systemic inflammation. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Syringomyelia are two distinct conditions with different pathogenetic pathways as well as diverse genetic and clinical characteristic. The coexistence of these two conditions has not been previously documented in the literature. Perhaps, it will be a challenging case when patient come to the rural hospital with the limitation of modality and number of therapists.

Conclusions: This case report demonstrates how rehabilitation medicine plays a critical role in a patient’s quality of life, decreasing pain and improving daily living tasks