Sara
G. Miller released on December 2, 2016 an article about how a woman’s own
immune system attacked her own brain caused by a rare disease. This rare
disease is known as anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis which an autoimmune
disorder according to Dr. Susan Mathai, the doctor who treated the woman with
this condition. The NMDA receptor are located in the brain and the immune
system creates antibodies that attack these receptors. When these attacks the
receptors in the brain leads to neurological symptoms because of inflammation
in the brain. The neurological symptoms include things such as seizures and a
loss of muscle-movement control.
Doctors were able to confirm that
the woman has the disease by taking a sample of her spinal fluid. Although the
cause of this disease is unknown is it believed by certain scientist that
tumors may play a role because ovarian teratomas are common among patients with
this disorder. It is possible that proteins in these tumors are what cause the immune system
to create the antibodies that attack the NMDA receptors in the brain.
The
woman diagnosed with disease did in fact have ovarian teratomas and took precautions by removing her
left ovary. Then the woman underwent plasmapheresis to remove the antibodies
from her blood that were attacking her brain. Finally, doctors prescribed the
woman medications to prevent the production of more antibodies. Thankfully this
disease is treatable because it is actually more common then believed with
multiple cases reported at the university of Colorado. The woman did have a
full recover and spread awareness about how ones own immune system could
actually affect your body and not all neurological problems are controllable or
preventable.
-Daisy
Uribe
http://www.livescience.com/57079-anti-nmda-receptor-encephalitis-brain.html
No comments:
Post a Comment