Gough JL, Coebergh J, Chandra B, Nilforooshan R. Electroconvulsive therapy and/or plasmapheresis in autoimmune encephalitis? World J Clin Cases 2016; 4(8): 223-228 [PMID: 27574610 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v4.i8.223]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Ramin Nilforooshan, Brain Science Research Unit, Abraham Cowley Unit, Holloway Hill, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 0AE, United Kingdom. ramin.nilforooshan@nhs.net
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Aug 16, 2016; 4(8): 223-228 Published online Aug 16, 2016. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v4.i8.223
Electroconvulsive therapy and/or plasmapheresis in autoimmune encephalitis?
Jessica L Gough, Jan Coebergh, Brunda Chandra, Ramin Nilforooshan
Jessica L Gough, Jan Coebergh, St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 0PZ, United Kingdom
Brunda Chandra, Abraham Cowley Unit, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 0AE, United Kingdom
Ramin Nilforooshan, Brain Science Research Unit, Abraham Cowley Unit, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 0AE, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Gough JL, Coebergh J and Nilforooshan R wrote the report; Chandra B collected the patient’s clinical history.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Brain Science Research Unit.
Informed consent statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Brain Science Research Unit.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Ramin Nilforooshan, Brain Science Research Unit, Abraham Cowley Unit, Holloway Hill, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 0AE, United Kingdom. ramin.nilforooshan@nhs.net
Telephone: +44-19-32722444
Received: February 18, 2016 Peer-review started: February 21, 2016 First decision: March 25, 2016 Revised: April 1, 2016 Accepted: June 14, 2016 Article in press: June 16, 2016 Published online: August 16, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Although there are still only a small number of reports supporting the theory that electroconvulsive therapies is effective in treating symptoms of autoimmune encephalitis, it is reasonable to suggest that it should be considered as an alternative/adjunct to standard immunosuppressive therapies. There is a difficulty in differentiating between “functional” causes of psychosis and psychosis seen in anti-N Methyl D Aspartate receptor encephalitis, which may lead to some patients being treated inappropriately with anti-psychotics rather than immunomodulatory treatments. It is crucial for clinicians to be aware of the potential for patients to present to either psychiatry or neurology services to allow timely diagnosis and prompt, appropriate treatment.
