Autoimmune Encephalitis: Pathophysiology and Imaging Review of an Overlooked Diagnosis
Open Access
- 9 February 2017
- journal article
- review article
- Published by American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) in American Journal of Neuroradiology
- Vol. 38 (6), 1070-1078
- https://doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.a5086
Abstract
SUMMARY: Autoimmune encephalitis is a relatively new category of immune-mediated disease involving the central nervous system that demonstrates a widely variable spectrum of clinical presentations, ranging from the relatively mild or insidious onset of cognitive impairment to more complex forms of encephalopathy with refractory seizure. Due to its diverse clinical features, which can mimic a variety of other pathologic processes, autoimmune encephalitis presents a diagnostic challenge to clinicians. Imaging findings in patients with these disorders can also be quite variable, but recognizing characteristic findings within limbic structures suggestive of autoimmune encephalitis can be a key step in alerting clinicians to the potential diagnosis and ensuring a prompt and appropriate clinical work-up. In this article, we review antibody-mediated encephalitis and its various subtypes with a specific emphasis on the role of neuroimaging in the diagnostic work-up.Keywords
This publication has 68 references indexed in Scilit:
- Recognizing Autoimmune-Mediated Encephalitis in the Differential Diagnosis of Limbic DisordersAmerican Journal of Neuroradiology, 2015
- Autoimmune encephalitis as differential diagnosis of infectious encephalitisCurrent Opinion in Neurology, 2014
- Autoimmune encephalitis: Recent updates and emerging challengesJournal of Clinical Neuroscience, 2014
- Autoimmune encephalitis updateNeuro-Oncology, 2014
- Immunopathology of autoantibody-associated encephalitides: clues for pathogenesisBrain, 2012
- Autoimmune-mediated encephalitisNeuroradiology, 2011
- Autoimmune EncephalopathyMayo Clinic Proceedings, 2010
- Antibodies and neuronal autoimmune disorders of the CNSZeitschrift für Neurologie, 2009
- Autoimmune channelopathies: new antibody-mediated disorders of the central nervous systemF1000 Biology Reports, 2009
- In Search of Encephalitis Etiologies: Diagnostic Challenges in the California Encephalitis Project, 1998–2000Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2003