SUCCESSFUL PLASMAPHERESIS IN BICKERSTAFFS BRAIN-STEM ENCEPHALITIS ASSOCIATED WITH ANTI-GQ1B ANTIBODY

Patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and Fisher's syndrome (FS) benefit from plasmapheresis. Specific treatments, however, have yet t o be established for Bickerstaff's brain stem encephalitis (BBE). We s howed earlier that sera from BBE patients, as well as from patients wi th FS and GBS with ophthalmoplegia, have autoantibody to GQ1b ganglios ide in the acute phase of the disease. We report 2 BBE patients who ha d high IgG anti-GQ1b antibody titers and were treated successfully wit h plasmapheresis.