PhD defence M.A.A.M. (Marienke) de Bruijn

Since the description of antibody-mediated neurological syndromes, there has been an exponential increase in the patients diagnosed with these disorders. Antibody-mediated disorders are diverse, ranging from polyneuropathy to cerebellar ataxia, and encephalitis. This thesis focuses on antibody-mediated, or autoimmune encephalitis (AIE). This syndrome is characterized by the subacute onset, within days to weeks, of disabling cognitive and behavioral disorders, often combined with other neurological symptoms, including seizures. These provoked seizures frequently occur early in the disease course. Generally, seizures caused by AIE are refractory to symptomatic treatment with antiseizure medication (ASM), and many patients develop status epilepticus. The most common antibody-mediated causes of status epilepticus are anti-NMDAR and anti-GABABR encephalitis. Patients with anti-GABABR encephalitis usually have severe encephalitis often accompanied by status epilepticus. In these patients there is a high tumor prevalence, as about 50% of the patients have small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

The PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall at campus Woudestein or in the Professor Andries Querido Room at the Erasmus MC. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online.