Acute psychiatric illness in a young woman: an unusual form of encephalitis

A 21-year-old woman was admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of acute psychotic mania, but developed, over approximately 6 weeks, seizures, delirium, catatonia, movement disorder and autonomic dysfunction. She was found to have antibodies to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) NR1-NR2 receptors in both serum and cerebrospinal fluid, consistent with anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis, a severe, potentially lethal but treatment-responsive encephalitis often associated with ovarian tumour. With aggressive immunotherapy and bilateral oophorectomy, she recovered over a period of 14 months from her initial presentation. No ovarian tumour was identified.