Hacohen, Yael;
              
      
            
                Ciccarelli, Olga;
              
      
            
                Kunchok, Amy C;
              
      
        
        
  
(2025)
  Diagnostic Criteria for Autoimmune Encephalitis in Children:
Challenges and Need for Clinical Expertise.
Neurology
, 105
       (4)
    
    
    
    , Article e213946.     10.1212/WNL.000000000021394.
  
  
| ![[thumbnail of Ciccarelli_Autoimmune encephalitis unmarked 190525.pdf]](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/style/images/fileicons/text.png) | Text Ciccarelli_Autoimmune encephalitis unmarked 190525.pdf Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 25 July 2026. Download (174kB) | 
Abstract
Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) affects all age groups, with varying prevalence of neural antibodies. Despite broad testing, some children remain seronegative. Consensus-based criteria published in 2016<sup>1</sup> classify patients into definite, probable, and possible AE. Definite AE requires well-characterized neural autoantibodies with clinical and paraclinical evidence. Possible AE is diagnosed based on subacute onset of cognitive or psychiatric symptoms plus at least 1 supportive feature (e.g., seizures, MRI changes, and CSF pleocytosis) and exclusion of alternative causes. Probable antibody-negative AE (ANAE) can be diagnosed in seronegative patients with >2 supporting features of autoimmunity (MRI, CSF, biopsy). Pediatric-specific criteria<sup>2</sup> published later reduced the number of required supporting features and classified limbic encephalitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), and Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis as probable ANAE.
| Type: | Article | 
|---|---|
| Title: | Diagnostic Criteria for Autoimmune Encephalitis in Children: Challenges and Need for Clinical Expertise | 
| Location: | United States | 
| DOI: | 10.1212/WNL.000000000021394 | 
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000213946 | 
| Language: | English | 
| Additional information: | This version is the author-accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. | 
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Neuroinflammation | 
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10212886 | 
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