5 Diagnostic Tests for Autoimmune Encephalitis

August 4, 2020

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.