Many people have rare autoimmune encephalitis, high risk of death

MNDAR autoimmune encephalitis requires long-term treatment, using many high-tech measures such as mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal blood filtration... so the average treatment cost is up to 1 billion VND/case.

Bác sỹ Bệnh viện Chợ Rẫy điều trị cho bệnh nhân viêm não tự miễn MNDAR. — Cho Ray Hospital doctors treat patients with autoimmune encephalitis MNDAR.

In the past 18 months alone, Cho Ray Hospital has received 17 cases of NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis - a rare, dangerous disease that can be fatal. Notably, about 50% of all female patients with this disease are related to ovarian teratoma.

The information was shared by doctors at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on July 2.

Dr. Le Quoc Hung, Head of the Department of Tropical Diseases, Cho Ray Hospital, said that the unit recently received a 17-year-old female patient who was admitted to the hospital with convulsions and coma. The patient was diagnosed with NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis.

Previously, this female patient was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor at Hung Vuong Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. However, because the patient was still in school, her family thought the tumor was normal and did not perform surgery to remove the tumor immediately.

After a while, the patient began to have seizures, fell into a coma and was taken to Cho Ray Hospital. At Cho Ray Hospital, doctors determined that the patient had NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis. The patient underwent plasma exchange, extracorporeal dialysis, and had three surgeries to remove ovarian tumors. The patient has overcome the critical stage, is gradually improving but is still being monitored and treated.

In addition to the above case, from 2023 to present, Cho Ray Hospital has received 16 other cases of NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis, including 12 female patients. Most of the patients were very young, with an average age of only 23 years old.

Doctors say this is a rare but extremely dangerous disease that can be fatal if not properly diagnosed and treated promptly.

Of the 17 cases treated at Cho Ray Hospital in the past 18 months, 9 cases were cured and 4 cases died. Currently, Cho Ray Hospital is treating 4 cases.

Một bệnh nhân viêm não tự miễn MNDAR đang được điều trị tại Bệnh viện Chợ Rẫy Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. — A patient with autoimmune encephalitis MNDAR is being treated at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Before Cho Ray Hospital, in 2015 and 2016, the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases also reported 9 cases of patients with NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis. These cases were all transferred from psychiatric hospitals and only 4 cases fully recovered.

Dr. Le Quoc Hung said that the symptoms of NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis are abnormal behavior, language dysfunction, seizures, movement disorders, perceptual disorders, drowsiness, confusion and coma. Therefore, when the disease begins, patients are often misdiagnosed with mental illness.

NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis was only discovered in the world in 2007 and currently has about 1,500 cases recorded.

In Vietnam, in recent years, a number of cases have been recorded being treated at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City. Cho Ray Hospital alone has recorded 17 cases since 2023, often in young women with ovarian teratoma.

Because the disease is easily confused with mental illness, many cases are not properly diagnosed, and by the time they are transferred to Cho Ray Hospital, they are in a serious condition, comatose, and difficult and complicated to treat.

According to Dr. Le Quoc Hung, autoimmune encephalitis MNDAR requires treatment for a long time, using many high-tech measures such as mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal blood filtration, plasma exchange, tumor surgery... so the average treatment cost is up to 1 billion VND/case.

Notably, through the cases admitted to Cho Ray Hospital, doctors discovered 6 patients (accounting for 50% of the total number of female patients) with ovarian teratoma (ovarian dermoid cysts with complex structures, developing from epithelial tissue in the embryo).

According to doctors, in ovarian teratoma there is a buffer system made of nerve tissue. When there is abnormal activity, this buffer system creates antibodies against brain receptors, causing damage to the nervous system leading to encephalitis.

Therefore, Dr. Hung recommends that women with ovarian teratoma need to be alert to the symptoms of autoimmune encephalitis MNDAR so that they can be taken to a specialized medical facility for timely treatment, avoiding the risk of death.

According to Vietnamplus

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