Pediatric Inflammatory and Autoimmune Neurologic Disorders at a Tertiary Medical Center

To describe the spectrum of pediatric inflammatory neurologic diseases and compare the sensitivity of ancillary testing for these diagnoses.

We analyzed clinical features and outcomes of 98 children with an immune-mediated central nervous system disorder. We compared sensitivities of each diagnostic modality.

We identified the following diagnoses: acute cerebellar ataxia (n = 14; 14.3%), acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis (n = 13; 13.3%), multiple sclerosis (MS) (n = 18; 18.4%), anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor encephalitis (anti-NMDAR encephalitis) (n = 15; 15.3%), encephalitis not otherwise specified (n = 12; 12.2%), and "Other" (n = 26; 26.5%). "Other" included acute transverse myelitis, neuromyelitis optica, central nervous system lupus, primary central nervous system vasculitis, Rasmussen encephalitis, opsoclonus myoclonus ataxia syndrome, and clinically isolated syndrome. The mean age of onset of all diagnoses was 7.9 ± 5.5 years. The diagnostic sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis was 92.3% and 94.4%, respectively. Cerebrospinal fluid was sensitive for multiple sclerosis in 92.3%, where 75% of patients had cerebrospinal fluid oligoclonal bands. Electroencephalogram (EEG) coupled with cerebrospinal fluid studies was highly sensitive for anti-NMDAR encephalitis (100%). EEG was sensitive for acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis and encephalitis not otherwise specified (77.8% and 80%). No diagnostic studies were sensitive for acute cerebellar ataxia. Seventy-three percent of patients with multiple sclerosis had residual deficits. Thirty-six percent of anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients were nonverbal and wheel-chair bound.

We found that MRI is useful for detecting multiple sclerosis and acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis, cerebrospinal fluid is helpful in diagnosing multiple sclerosis and anti-NMDAR encephalitis, and EEG is often abnormal in suspected anti-NMDAR encephalitis, acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis, and encephalitis not otherwise specified. Neurologic outcome at follow-up was unfavorable in patients with multiple sclerosis and anti-NMDAR encephalitis.