"Everyone Thought She Was Crazy": A Report on a Novel Approach to Diagnosing a Case of Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis

Ricardo Martinez1, Claudia Perez Acosta2, Sarah Cormie1

  • 1Neurology, Larkin Community Hospital, Miami, USA.

Cureus
|September 8, 2022
PubMed

We present a unique case of a 28-year-old female patientĀ admitted to our hospital due to altered mental status, hallucinations, agitation, impaired memory, and impaired speech. The patient had a previous psychiatric admission to another hospital but she was discharged without a definitive diagnosis. During her admission, the majority of the medical staff was under the impression she was having a psychotic event. The patient was subsequently diagnosed with N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis. Our aim is to report the clinical approach to diagnose and manage a type of autoimmune encephalitis associated with ovarian teratomas, but most importantly to teach and make awareness in the medical community of how to recognize this type of encephalitis.

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