Clinical analysis of 9 cases of anti-NMDAR encephalitis / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the pathogenesis and clinical features of anti- N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis. Methods: The clinical characteristics of 9 patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis in Department of Neurology, Army General Hospital of Chinese PLA from October 2013 to October 2015, were retrospectively analyzed. And by literatures review, the pathogenesis, clinical feature, diagnosis, treatments and prognosis of this disease were summarized. Results: The average age of the 9 patients (3 men and 6 women) was 39 years, 5 of them had precursor nonspecific infection. The initial symptom of neurologic system was mental-behavior disorder in all the 6 females, or epilepsy in all the 3 males. Mental-behavior disorder existed in all the 9 cases during the disease course, including 7 cases of epilepsy, 8 cases of consciousness disturbance, 5 cases of involuntary movement, and 3 cases of inadequate ventilation. The anti-NMDAR antibodies were positively detected from the cerebrospinal fluid and blood of all the 9 cases. After gamma globulin and hormone therapy, 8 cases were cured or better, and only 1 case invalid. A six months follow-up found that 8 cases were independent with eusemia and 1 case got disability. Conclusions: The clinical characteristics of anti-NMDAR encephalitis are mental-behavior disorder, or epilepsy upon the basis of a precursor infection, with positive anti-NMDAR antibodies detected from the cerebrospinal fluid and blood. Gamma globulin and hormone therapy may help the clinical recovery.