Vladimir Ferrafiat1, Elise Riquin2, Elena Freri3, Tiziana Granata3, Nardo Nardocci3, François Medjkane4, Claire Corfiotti4, Alessandra Tozzo3, Huges Pellerin5, Xavier Benarous5, Julien Haroche6, Zahir Amoura6, Philippe Duverger2, Renaud Jardri4, Priscille Gerardin7, David Cohen8, Angèle Consoli9, Marie Raffin9. 1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Université de Rouen, Hôpital Charles Nicolle, 1 rue de Germont, 76000 Rouen, France. Electronic address: vferrafiat@gmail.com. 2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hôpital Universitaire d'Angers, 4 Rue Larrey, 49100 Angers, France. 3. Department of Pediatric Neuroscience, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Via Celoria 11, 20133 Milan, Italy. 4. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Université Lille Nord de France, CHRU de Lille, F-59037 Lille Cedex, France. 5. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France. 6. French National Reference Center for Rare Systemic AutoImmune Disorders, E3M Institute, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France. 7. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Université de Rouen, Hôpital Charles Nicolle, 1 rue de Germont, 76000 Rouen, France. 8. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France; CNRS UMR 7222, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et Robotiques, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France. 9. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France; GRC 15 PSYDEV. Troubles psychiatriques et développement. Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Patients with autoimmune encephalitis (AE) are likely to exhibit an acute onset of severe psychiatric features, including psychosis and/or catatonia. Based on the high prevalence of catatonia in AE and our clinical experience, we hypothesized that catatonia might be a marker of severity requiring more aggressive treatment approaches. METHODS: To reach a sufficient number of cases with brain-autoimmune conditions, we pooled two samples (N = 58): the first from the French National Network of Rare Psychiatric diseases and the second from the largest Italian neuro-pediatrics center for encephalopathies. Autoimmune conditions were diagnosed using a multidisciplinary approach and numerous paraclinical investigations. We retrospectively compared patients with and without catatonia for psychiatric and non-psychiatric clinical features, biological and imaging assessments, type of immunotherapy used and outcomes. RESULTS: The sample included 25 patients (43%) with catatonia and 33 (57%) without catatonia. Forty-two patients (72.4%) had a definite AE (including 27 anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis) and 16 (27.6%) suspected autoimmune encephalitis. Patients with catatonia showed significantly more psychotic features [18 (72%) vs 9 (27.3%), p < 0.001)] and more movement disorders [25 (100%) vs 20 (60.6%), p < 0.001] than patients without catatonia. First line (corticoids, immunoglobulin and plasma exchanges) and second line (e.g., rituximab) therapies were more effective in patients with catatonia, with 24 (96%) vs 22 (66.7%) (p = 0.006) and 17 (68%) vs 9 (27.3%) (p = 0.002), respectively. However, those with catatonia received more combinations of first and second line treatments and had more relapses during outcomes. CONCLUSION: Despite its exploratory design, the study supports the idea that autoimmune catatonia may be a marker of severity and morbidity in terms of initial presentation and relapses, requiring the need for early and aggressive treatment.
OBJECTIVES:Patients with autoimmune encephalitis (AE) are likely to exhibit an acute onset of severe psychiatric features, including psychosis and/or catatonia. Based on the high prevalence of catatonia in AE and our clinical experience, we hypothesized that catatonia might be a marker of severity requiring more aggressive treatment approaches. METHODS: To reach a sufficient number of cases with brain-autoimmune conditions, we pooled two samples (N = 58): the first from the French National Network of Rare Psychiatric diseases and the second from the largest Italian neuro-pediatrics center for encephalopathies. Autoimmune conditions were diagnosed using a multidisciplinary approach and numerous paraclinical investigations. We retrospectively compared patients with and without catatonia for psychiatric and non-psychiatric clinical features, biological and imaging assessments, type of immunotherapy used and outcomes. RESULTS: The sample included 25 patients (43%) with catatonia and 33 (57%) without catatonia. Forty-two patients (72.4%) had a definite AE (including 27 anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis) and 16 (27.6%) suspected autoimmune encephalitis. Patients with catatonia showed significantly more psychotic features [18 (72%) vs 9 (27.3%), p < 0.001)] and more movement disorders [25 (100%) vs 20 (60.6%), p < 0.001] than patients without catatonia. First line (corticoids, immunoglobulin and plasma exchanges) and second line (e.g., rituximab) therapies were more effective in patients with catatonia, with 24 (96%) vs 22 (66.7%) (p = 0.006) and 17 (68%) vs 9 (27.3%) (p = 0.002), respectively. However, those with catatonia received more combinations of first and second line treatments and had more relapses during outcomes. CONCLUSION: Despite its exploratory design, the study supports the idea that autoimmune catatonia may be a marker of severity and morbidity in terms of initial presentation and relapses, requiring the need for early and aggressive treatment.
Authors: GenaLynne C Mooneyham; Vladimir Ferrafiat; Erin Stolte; D Catherine Fuchs; David Cohen Journal: Front Psychiatry Date: 2021-03-29 Impact factor: 4.157