Confabulation, amnesia and motor memory loss as a presentation of apparent ITPR1 antibody autoimmune encephalitis

A 59-year-old woman presented to the hospital with acute, hypoactive altered mental status. Her symptoms had begun 3 days prior when she developed hallucinations, urinary and faecal incontinence, and somnolence. She also exhibited confabulations, amnesia, motor memory loss and a wide-based gait. Med...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ case reports 2021-09, Vol.14 (9), p.e244316
Main Authors: Schiff, Julia R, Fiorillo, Benjamin P, Sadjadi, Raha, Henry, Tracey L, Gruen, Judah K, Gensler, Lauren M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amnesia
Antibodies
Ataxia
Autoimmune diseases
Brain research
Case Report
Case reports
Confabulation
Encephalitis
Fecal incontinence
Gait
Hallucinations
Laboratories
Metabolism
Neurology
Patients
Psychosis
Steroids
Thyroid gland
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Summary:A 59-year-old woman presented to the hospital with acute, hypoactive altered mental status. Her symptoms had begun 3 days prior when she developed hallucinations, urinary and faecal incontinence, and somnolence. She also exhibited confabulations, amnesia, motor memory loss and a wide-based gait. Medical, psychiatric and neurological evaluations including imaging and laboratory workup were unrevealing. Treatment for possible Wernicke encephalopathy and psychosis with high-dose intravenous thiamine and antipsychotic medications did not lead to improvement. After discharge, a send-out cerebrospinal fluid autoimmune encephalitis panel resulted positive for the newly identified neuronal inositol triphosphate receptor one (ITPR1) antibody. This prompted readmission for intravenous steroids, plasmapheresis and intravenous immunoglobulin, which yielded mild clinical improvement. Here, we describe confabulations and psychiatric symptoms as novel manifestations of the primary presentation of anti-ITPR1 encephalitis in an effort to promote faster recognition of this disease and early initiation of treatment in suspected cases.
ISSN:1757-790X
1757-790X
DOI:10.1136/bcr-2021-244316