[Limbic encephalitis: a review of the literature]

Limbic encephalitis (LE) was described for the first time in 1960 as a clinico-pathologic syndrome in adults. Noninfectious LE usually demonstrates features of the paraneoplastic syndrome and is attributed in most cases to small cell lung cancer. Infectious LE is overwhelmingly caused by the herpes simplex virus. Non-paraneoplastic variants of LE (NPLE) are associated with autoimmune diseases and demonstrate antibodies against cell membrane antigens. However, there are cases of NPLE diagnosed on the basis of the clinical picture, MRI findings, absence of tumor, and long-term follow-up results, which do not reveal the aforementioned antibodies, are not preceded by symptoms of acute febrile infection, and present with temporal lobe epilepsy as the prominent symptom. NPLE is a potentially reversible variant of LE. Until now, no diagnostic consensus as regards LE subtypes has been achieved. The authors present current diagnostic criteria and propose recommendations concerning treatment.