Study of Acute Autoimmune Encephalitis With Positive Antibodies in Eastern France

Study of Acute Autoimmune Encephalitis With Positive Antibodies in Eastern France Between 2006 and 2018

The number of acute encephalitides diagnosed each year is gradually increasing, reaching approximately 5 to 10/100,000 per year; more than 50% of etiologies currently remain unknown. The majority of them are acute encephalitis of infectious origin, but it is estimated that 20% of encephalitis in northern Europe is related to an autoimmune mechanism with the majority of encephalitis with anti-NMDA Ac discovered recently in 2007. The study of a large American encephalitis cohort showed a death rate of 3% to 7% in cases of autoimmune encephalitis. Furthermore, delay in the initiation of effective treatment (tumor removal or immunotherapy) beyond 4 weeks is associated with a poor prognosis at 1 year.

It is therefore necessary to better understand the signs of autoimmune encephalitis in order to recognize the disease quickly and to start a treatment quickly; in order to improve the management and the prognosis of these children.

Inclusion criteria:

• Age between 0 and 17 years at diagnosis
• Patient diagnosed between 01/01/2006 and 31/12/2018 with autoimmune encephalitis in one of the participating university hospitals (Besançon, Nancy, Strasbourg, Reims and Dijon)
• Presence of clinical criteria of clinical and/or radiographic encephalitis
• Presence of one or more antibodies in the blood or CSF
• Parental authority holders and their child of childbearing age having given their consent for the use of the child's data for this research

Exclusion criteria:

• Refusal to participate in the study
• Absence of consultation at any of the study centers
• Absence of clinical and/or radiographic criteria for encephalitis.
• Absence of antibodies found in blood or CSF