Clinical characteristics of patients with cerebellar ataxia associated with anti-GAD antibodies.

Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria 2017 Mar

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This retrospective and descriptive study evaluated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with CA-GAD-ab. Three patients with cerebellar ataxia, high GAD-ab titers and autoimmune endocrine disease were identified. Patients 1 and 2 had classic stiff person syndrome and insidious-onset cerebellar ataxia, while Patient 3 had pure cerebellar ataxia with subacute onset. Patients received intravenous immunoglobulin therapy with no response in Patients 1 and 3 and partial recovery in Patient 2. CA-GAD-ab is rare and its clinical presentation may hamper diagnosis. Clinicians should be able to recognize this potentially treatable autoimmune cerebellar ataxia.

Citation

Tiago Silva Aguiar, Andrea Fragoso, Carolina Rouanet de Albuquerque, Patrícia de Fátima Teixeira, Marcus Vinícius Leitão de Souza, Lenita Zajdenverg, Soniza Vieira Alves-Leon, Melanie Rodacki, Marco Antônio Sales Dantas de Lima. Clinical characteristics of patients with cerebellar ataxia associated with anti-GAD antibodies. Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria. 2017 Mar;75(3):142-146