Central neurogenic hyperventilation in anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis.

Atay Vural, Ethem Murat Arsava, Nese Dericioglu, Mehmet Akif Topcuoglu

Department of Neurology, Hacettepe University Hospitals, Turkey.

Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) 2012

filter terms:

Central neurogenic hyperventilation (CNH) is a rare condition that is generally associated with infiltrative tumors of the brainstem. Respiratory dysfunction, particularly central hypoventilation, is common in anti-N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis. CNH, to the best of our knowledge, has not been described previously in this disease. A 24-year-old woman was diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis secondary to ovarian teratoma. In addition to the typical symptoms of the disease, recurrent CNH episodes were observed during the course of the illness, which subsided with midazolam and propofol infusion. Supportive and disease-specific treatments, including oopherectomy, plasmapheresis and intravenous immunoglobulin, provided excellent recovery. These observations suggest that NMDA receptors may play a role in the pathophysiology of CNH.

Citation

Atay Vural, Ethem Murat Arsava, Nese Dericioglu, Mehmet Akif Topcuoglu. Central neurogenic hyperventilation in anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan). 2012;51(19):2789-92