AUTHOR=Chen Zhongqin , Wu Dengchang , Wang Kang , Luo Benyan 

TITLE=Cognitive Function Recovery Pattern in Adult Patients With Severe Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis: A Longitudinal Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2018

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.00675

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2018.00675

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Objective: To observe the dynamic characteristics of cognitive function following early application of immunotherapy in adult patients with severe anti N-methyl D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis. 
Methods: Serial neuropsychological assessments were performed at three sequential phases for 5 adult patients of severe anti-NMDAR encephalitis following early initiated immunotherapy. The three sequential phases were 1-2 months, 6 months and 11-12 months. Five normal subjects without psychological or neurological diseases were assessed as a control group. 
Results: Following early-initiated immunotherapy, all 5 patients demonstrated a gradual improvement of overall cognitive function over the one-year follow-up period. All patients had suffered from a comprehensive cognitive function disorder from the early stages of the illness. Six months after the immunotherapy, the treatment group had shown no significant difference in verbal episodic memory function from the control group. One year after the immunotherapy, non-verbal episodic memory function in the treatment group had normalized. The results of other tests related to frontoparietal cognitive function had shown damage of various degrees during these three phases. 
Conclusion: The results of this sequential observation indicate a three-phase recovery pattern of cognitive function in adult patients with severe anti-NMDAR encephalitis following early initiated immunotherapy. These findings enhance our understanding of the recovery mechanisms of cognitive function impairment in this disease.