Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis historical perspective

Anti-NMDA encephalitis, first described in a 1830 case report, is an autoimmune disorder characterized by neurological and psychiatric symptoms. Ovarian teratoma is sometimes associated. Public awareness increased with Susannah Cahalan’s case.

In the year 1830, a case report published in top medical journals in Hungarian, German, and Italian medical journals which can be traced back to as anti NMDA encephalitis associated with ovarian teratoma.

• A healthy 18-year-old woman experienced epileptic seizures, followed by six days of catalepsy, unresponsiveness, immobility, and shallow breathing. Her symptoms resurfaced frequently over the next 1.5 years. An ovarian tumor was diagnosed and removed leading to resolution of symptoms.

• In 2007 by Dalmau and Bataller, documented Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis for the first time and demonstrated antibodies to a subunit of the NMDA glutamate receptor in patients with the condition neuropsychiatric manifestations.

The Susannah Cahalan case is a famous case of Anti NMDA Encephalitis and with publication of Brain on Fire—My Month of Madness in 2012 by New York Post reporter Susannah Cahalan, public awareness of this disorder rose. She described a quick progression from prodromal upper respiratory symptoms like a virus to acute psychosis which was confirmed with biopsy of her brain. She later recovered and continued her job.

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