IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis treatment

The diagnosis of IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis is challenging but is of great relevance as treatment differs significantly from other forms of pachymeningitis and a specific therapeutic approach may avoid long-term neurological complications 1).

There is no specific treatment protocol for IgG4 related pachymeningitis 2).

High-dose steroids are the initial treatment of choice; other immunosuppressive agents have shown variable efficacy in reducing meningeal hypertrophy and mostly used in disease relapse setting 3)

Second-line is chemotherapy (methotrexate, azathioprine, etc.).


Surgery is necessary when lesions progress and patients start to develop cranial nerve function deficit 4).

Rituximab

see Rituximab for IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis treatment.

1)
Esmaeilzadeh M, Dadak M, Atallah O, Möhn N, Skripuletz T, Hartmann C, Banan R, Krauss JK. IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis with tumor-like intracranial and intracerebral lesions. Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2022 Aug 17. doi: 10.1007/s00701-022-05340-5. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35974231.
2)
Gospodarev V, Câmara J, Chakravarthy V, Perry A, Wood M, Dietz R, Wang J, De Los Reyes K, Raghavan R. Treatment of IgG4-related pachymeningitis in a patient with steroid intolerance: The role of early use of rituximab. J Neuroimmunol. 2016 Oct 15;299:62-65. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2016.08.009. Epub 2016 Aug 16. PMID: 27725123.
3)
Lu LX, Della-Torre E, Stone JH, Clark SW. IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis: clinical features, diagnostic criteria, and treatment. JAMA Neurol. 2014 Jun;71(6):785-93. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2014.243. PMID: 24733677.
4)
Yu Y, Lv L, Yin SL, Chen C, Jiang S, Zhou PZ. Clivus-involved immunoglobulin G4 related hypertrophic pachymeningitis mimicking meningioma: A case report. World J Clin Cases. 2022 Jun 26;10(18):6269-6276. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i18.6269. PMID: 35949844; PMCID: PMC9254204.