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5 Diagnostic Tests for Autoimmune Encephalitis

August 4, 2020
Pojen Deng, MD

With adequate clinician awareness and prompt initiation of diagnostic testing and intervention, patients with autoimmune encephalitis can lead productive lives. A range of tests is described here.

With adequate clinician awareness and prompt initiation of diagnostic testing and intervention, patients with autoimmune encephalitis can lead productive lives. A range of tests is described here.

Diagnosis can be made when all three of the following criteria have been met:

1. Subacute onset (rapid progression of less than 3 months) of working memory deficits (short-term memory loss), altered mental status (lethargy, personality change, or cognitive deficits), or psychiatric symptoms

2. At least one of the following: new focal CNS findings; seizures not explained by a previously known seizure disorder; cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis (white blood cell count of more than five cells per mm); MRI features suggestive of encephalitis.

3. Reasonable exclusion of alternative causes

For more on this topic, see: Autoimmune Encephalitis: What Psychiatrists Need to Know, on which this slideshow is based.

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