A study just published in the Journal of Neurology, conducted at 5 hospitals (4 Germany, 1 Austria) reported admission diagnosis in AE patients is still proving a challenge. The physicians attributed this to the fact that initial symptoms vary widely, causing the correct diagnosis to be delayed or even missed. They looked back at 50 …
With Thanksgiving upon us in the US and the holiday season approaching, here at the Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance we want to take a few minutes to express our heartfelt gratitude to the many people who make fighting this rare illness possible: Thank you to the people affected by AE and their families and friends, who …
We are honored to have friends at the Encephalitis Society in the UK, who provide support for the community of people who have experienced all types of encephalitis. Chief Executive, Dr. Ava Easton, has recently published an article entitled “Treating encephalitis in primary care settings” in the Independent Nurse. She provided a summary of the …
Physicians conducting research in Barcelona are using high-resolution microscopy and biochemical methods to unlock the secrets surrounding how anti-NMDA receptor antibodies cause disruption at the cellular level, resulting in the alteration of brain function. Dalmau and colleagues have discovered that under laboratory conditions, “NMDARs form nano-objects on the neuronal surface.” Patients with AE have developed …
Although a majority of patients with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis make a good recovery, it can take time for patients to recover. Physicians are often looking for objective means to assess a patient’s recovery and ways to monitor for relapses. Researchers at Northwestern and Massachusetts General recently published a case study in which they used a …
Researchers recently released a study in the journal Brain, in which they revealed interesting discoveries about the subtypes of AE associated with LGI1 and CASPR2 antibodies. There is clinical overlap between these two syndromes and, although rare, some patients present with both types of antibodies. These types of AE often present in males, typically in …
In the Summer of 2017, I was a 46-year old mom of two young children, working part time as an attorney, just returning from a weekend away with my girlfriends. I was having difficulty sleeping, but often had insomnia this time of year. My thoughts were becoming jumbled and weren’t making sense. Little did I …
Physicians from centers in four countries collaborated on a recent retrospective study concerning the use of mycophenolate mofetil (Cell Cept) in autoimmune/immune-mediated diseases of the central nervous system in children. A large percentage of the study population were children with autoimmune encephalitis. The authors were interested in the safety of the medication and whether children …
I remember so well the day I came back into consciousness in July 2017 in Washington. I was lying in a hospital bed, President Trump making a speech on TV, and ‘Get Well’ balloons on my left. First thought was, why am I here? And second was, isn’t Obama the U.S President? Shortly after, my …
New methods of studying the brain have been emerging in recent decades. One such method is the use of functional MRI, which is a way to measure how the brain works as opposed to regular MRI, which looks at structure. This week an exciting new research study was released by the Autoimmune Neurology Group in …
