Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy-Associated Encephalitis: a Case Series and Review of the Literature
Original article | Published 23 November 2020 | doi:10.4414/smw.2020.20377 Cite this as: Swiss Med Wkly. 2020;150:w20377 Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy-associated encephalitis: a case series and review of the literature Stuby Johanna, Herren Thomasb, Schwegler Naumburger Guidoc, Papet Claudiad, Rudiger Alaina a Internal Medicine, Department II, Limmattal Hospital Zurich, Schlieren, Switzerland b Cardiology, Department II, Limmattal Hospital Zurich, Schlieren, Switzerland c Neurology, Department II, Limmattal Hospital Zurich, Schlieren, Switzerland d Oncology/Haematology, Department II, Limmattal Hospital Zurich, Schlieren, Switzerland Summary EEG should be performed. Therapy with intravenous corti- costeroids is recommended. Steroid unresponsiveness is BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can rare and should lead to a review of the diagnosis. Alterna- cause a wide spectrum of immune-related adverse events, tive treatment options are IVIG, plasma exchange therapy including encephalitis. To date, no prospective ran- and rituximab. domised controlled trials examining the patient charac- teristics, treatment and outcomes of ICI-associated en- Keywords: immune checkpoint inhibitor, nivolumab, pem- cephalitis have been published. Therefore, we aimed to brolizumab, ipilimumab, encephalitis review case reports and to provide recommendations for the management of ICI-associated encephalitis. Introduction METHODS: A literature search using Google Scholar and Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) re-establish the anti- PubMed was performed in December 2019. Published tumour activity of T-lymphocytes by blocking immune in- case reports and case series of ICI-associated encephali- hibitory receptors such as programmed cell death protein 1 tis were reviewed, and a case series from the Limmattal (PD-1, e.g., nivolumab, pembrolizumab and lambrolizum- Hospital in Schlieren, Switzerland was added.
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