Autoimmune Encephalitides

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.