Premium
N‐methyl‐ D ‐aspartate receptor antibodies in pediatric dyskinetic encephalitis lethargica
Author(s) -
Dale Russell C.,
Irani Sarosh R.,
Brilot Fabienne,
Pillai Sekhar,
Webster Richard,
Gill Deepak,
Lang Bethan,
Vincent Angela
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.21807
Subject(s) - encephalitis , parkinsonism , somnolence , nmda receptor , dyskinesia , cerebrospinal fluid , medicine , movement disorders , extrapyramidal symptoms , pediatrics , receptor , virology , adverse effect , parkinson's disease , psychiatry , disease , virus , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , antipsychotic
Abstract Encephalitis lethargica (EL) describes an encephalitis with psychiatric, sleep, and extrapyramidal movement disorders. Dyskinetic and Parkinsonian forms have been described. EL shares clinical features with the anti–N‐methyl‐ D ‐aspartate receptor (NMDAR‐Ab) encephalitis. We studied 20 sera from pediatric patients with contemporary EL. Ten sera (from 2 males and 8 females, aged 1.3–13 years) and 6/6 cerebrospinal fluid samples were positive for NMDAR‐Ab. NMDAR‐Ab–positive patients had dyskinesias, agitation, seizures, and insomnia, whereas Parkinsonism and somnolence dominated in the NMDAR‐Ab–negative children. We were unable to identify any tumors. The dyskinetic form of EL is an NMDAR‐Ab encephalitis and can affect very young children. Ann Neurol 2009;66:704–709