TY - JOUR
T1 - Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis in childhood
T2 - A literature overview
AU - MARINO, S.
AU - MARINO, L.
AU - GRECO, F.
AU - VENTI, V.
AU - FONTANA, A.
AU - TIMPANARO, T.
AU - TAIBI, R.
AU - PUSTORINO, E.
AU - BARBAGALLO, M.
AU - PAVONE, P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Verduci Editore s.r.l. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - OBJECTIVE: This is a review on clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of reported cases of Bickerstaff brain encephalitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cases of pediatric Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis collected from PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scopus Web of Science databases were reviewed. The inclusion criteria of the cases were based on age ≤ 18 years and the clinical characteristics of the disorder. RESULTS: Twenty-seven articles on Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis, including 236 children from a total of 42 from January 1990 to January 2020, were selected. The phenotype of the pediatric cases confirmed those described in the previously published articles. Almost half of the cases demonstrated the positivity of anti- GQ1b antibody titers, but the antibodies' presence was not linked to longer healing time. However, it was found that individuals with neuroimaging changes needed a longer time to recovery. Overall, patients treated with any type of immunotherapy (intravenous immunoglobulins, steroid or plasmapheresis) demonstrated faster resolution of symptoms than supportive care. CONCLUSIONS: Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis is an uncommon disorder, the shortterm and long-term prognoses depend on the clinical presentation of the disorder, co-morbidity, instrumental investigations, and precocity of treatment.
AB - OBJECTIVE: This is a review on clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of reported cases of Bickerstaff brain encephalitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cases of pediatric Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis collected from PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scopus Web of Science databases were reviewed. The inclusion criteria of the cases were based on age ≤ 18 years and the clinical characteristics of the disorder. RESULTS: Twenty-seven articles on Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis, including 236 children from a total of 42 from January 1990 to January 2020, were selected. The phenotype of the pediatric cases confirmed those described in the previously published articles. Almost half of the cases demonstrated the positivity of anti- GQ1b antibody titers, but the antibodies' presence was not linked to longer healing time. However, it was found that individuals with neuroimaging changes needed a longer time to recovery. Overall, patients treated with any type of immunotherapy (intravenous immunoglobulins, steroid or plasmapheresis) demonstrated faster resolution of symptoms than supportive care. CONCLUSIONS: Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis is an uncommon disorder, the shortterm and long-term prognoses depend on the clinical presentation of the disorder, co-morbidity, instrumental investigations, and precocity of treatment.
KW - Acute encephalitis
KW - Acute encephalopathy
KW - Guillain-Barré variant
KW - Inflammatory encephalitis
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U2 - 10.26355/eurrev_202012_24181
DO - 10.26355/eurrev_202012_24181
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33378029
AN - SCOPUS:85099321462
VL - 25
SP - 12802
EP - 12807
JO - European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences
JF - European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences
SN - 1128-3602
IS - 24
ER -