Updates in Autoimmune Neurology: Phenotype Specific Testing and Avoiding Misdiagnosis

Course overview

Autoimmune neurology is a rapidly growing field, with new antibodies, syndromes, and treatment strategies developing every year. While individual antibody-mediated neurologic diseases are rare, autoimmune causes of encephalitis are as common as infectious causes. This presentation provides a brief overview of autoimmune neurology, discusses strategies for testing for these rare diseases, and reviews some of the common pitfalls that can lead to misdiagnosis. Learning Objectives: 1) Describe how the location of antineural antibody targets impacts strategies and informs treatment decisions. 2) Identify clinical characteristics which support testing for antineural antibodies, and how phenotype-specific panels can be used to increase the chances of obtaining clinically meaningful results. 3) Recognize the most common pitfalls which lead to misdiagnosis of immune-mediated neurologic diseases.