A Rare Case of Anti-Ma2 Antibody-Mediated Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in Childhood

Abstract

A 9-year-old boy with no relevant previous medical history was admitted to our clinic following 9 days of persistent fever and headache, followed by generalized motor weakness and an altered state of mentality. The patient was initially evalu-ated by a primary care physician and treated with antibiotics, although no improvement was observed. On his first visit to our hospital, he displayed a confused mental state, signs of meninge-al irritation, and decreased motor power (grades I–II) in all extremities on neurologic examinations. Laboratory tests, including thyroid func-tion tests, level of immunoglobulin, and comple-ments, were unremarkable. Brain and spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed T2 flu-id-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) high signal changes in the basal ganglia, thalami, cor-pus callosum, brainstem, cerebellum, and entire spinal cord with leptomeningeal enhancement (Fig. 1A).