TITLE:
Autoimmune Encephalitides
AUTHORS:
David S. Younger
KEYWORDS:
Autoimmune, Encephalitis, Hashimoto, Encephalopathy
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Neuroscience,
Vol.7 No.3,
August
28,
2017
ABSTRACT: Autoimmune encephalitis is a potentially severe
disorder of the brain of diverse causes with a complex differential diagnosis.
Recent advances in the past decade have led to the elucidation of new syndromes
and biological markers transforming the approach to diagnosis and management of
autoimmune encephalitis. Limbic encephalitis, the commonest form of autoimmune
encephalitis, combines common presentations of cognitive, psychiatric, and
epileptic disorders and has until recently been considered paraneoplastic or
postinfectious in origin. The autoimmune encephalitides are clinically and
histopathologically associated with serum and intrathecal antibodies to
intracellular and surface neuronal antigens, and constituents of the limbic
system neuropil. This has led to a reconsideration of a number of
neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive disorders as having shared mechanisms of
origin. This chapter reviews their historical background, clinical
presentation, laboratory evaluation, histopathology, diagnosis and management.