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Interest is increasing in autoimmune etiologies of psychiatric disorders, such as NMDA encephalitis associated with schizophrenia phenotypes (Br J Psychiatry 2012; 200:92) and pediatric autoimmune syndromes presenting with behavioral phenomena (J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2005; 46:227). To extend this work to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), investigators studied 31 patients who were screened for autoimmune encephalitis (mean age, 9 years, 9 months; 61% boys).
Clinicians established ASD diagnoses in about 85% of patients. Open-label intravenous immunoglobin (IVIG) was administered monthly with flexible dosing for 2 years. Improvement, based on total scores on two parental questionnaires (one on ASD and one on general behavior), was significant…