Autoimmune limbic encephalitis

What it is

A rare autoimmune encephalitis involving the mesial temporal lobes and clinically characterized by subacute onset (i. e. rapid progression of less than three months) of short-term memory deficits, seizures or psychiatric symptoms, such as behavioral changes, anxiety, depression, and psychosis. Further diagnostic criteria are bilateral abnormalities restricted to the mesial temporal lobes in brain MRI, cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis and/or epileptic or slow-wave activity involving the temporal lobes in EEG, and reasonable exclusion of alternative causes. Paraneoplastic or non-paraneoplastic antibodies against neuronal antigens may be found in serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid.

Key facts

Prevalence

1-9 / 100 000 (Europe)

Age of onset

All ages

Inheritance

Not applicable

Classified as

Disease

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

ICD-10 codes

ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references