AAN 2022 | The diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune-associated seizures

Claude Steriade, MD, New York School of Medicine, New York, NY, discusses the general approach to diagnosing and treating autoimmune-associated seizures. A good understanding of the phenotype of autoimmune-associated seizures is vital; knowing how autoimmune encephalitis or autoimmune-associated epilepsy behave clinically, can help further understand the results of diagnostics tests. Therefore, the diagnostic approach continues to be looking for evidence of neuroinflammation via analyses of spinal fluids, neural imaging, etc. Interpreting the results then comes back to the clinical context of whether or not a patient has a history consistent with an autoimmune cause. Although the phenotype in autoimmune encephalitis is now very well recognized by clinicians, there is still a diagnostic and therapeutic gap in patients with autoimmune-associated epilepsy – inferring the need for rational targeted screening of patients with a phenotype of autoimmune-associated epilepsy. This interview took place at the American Academy of Neurology 2022 Congress in Seattle, WA.