Table 2.

Differential diagnosis table for anti-NMDA encephalitis

	Anti-NMDA encephalitis	Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome	Rabies encephalitis	Herpes encephalitis	Stroke	Infiltrating Glioma
Age	Early twenties	Middle aged adults	None	Two peaks: younger than 20 years old and older than 50 years old	> 65	40’s
Gender Predilection	91% women	None	None	None	Slightly male	None
Distribution of findings	No specific distribution	Most commonly parieto-occipital, but can have a holohemispheric watershed pattern, superior frontal sulcus pattern, or a combination of the three.	Basal ganglia and thalamus along with the deep white matter and brainstem	Medial temporal and frontal lobes	Vascular territory, most commonly in the distribution of the middle cerebral artery	No specific distribution
CT	Normal	Vasogenic edema	Decreased attenuation	Decreased attenuation	Decreased attenuation	Decreased attenuation
MRI T1	Normal	Normal	Hyperintense signal in areas of involvement	Normal	Normal	Low to normal signal intensity
MRI T2	Hyperintense signal in areas of involvement	Hyperintense signal in areas of involvement	Hyperintense signal in areas of involvement	Hyperintense signal in areas of involvement	Normal signal intensity early in the disease course, hyperintense late	Hyperintense signal in areas of involvement
MRI DWI/ADC	Restricted diffusion possible	Typically normal	No characteristic findings	Can demonstrate restricted diffusion	Restricted diffusion in cases of acute or subacute stroke	None
Pattern of contrast enhancement	No enhancement	No enhancement	Minimal to no enhancement	Patchy parenchymal or gyral enhancement	Late enhancement	Variable