Idiopathic Autoimmune Encephalopathy: MR Imaging Appearance

Feng Feng¹, Jing Gao², Hui You¹, Ming-Li Li¹, Zheng-Yu Jin¹

Although idiopathic autoimmune encephalopathy (AE) is a rare and poorly understood entity, it is becoming increasingly recognized by the association with autoantibody markers and/or clear response to immuno-modulatory treatment. The clinical manifestations of AE are protean and nonspecific, and make the diagnosis challenging. Since AE is a potentially reversible neurological condition, better understanding its MRI appearance is critical to patient~{!/~}s prognosis. In this study, seven biopsy-proven cases of AE without specific biological markers were described and their MRI findings were suggestive after thorough clinical and laboratory evaluation.