MYCOPLASMA-PNEUMONIAE MENINGOENCEPHALITIS AND CEREBELLITIS WITH ANTIGANGLIOSIDE ANTIBODIES

A male patient with acute meningoencephalitis and cerebellitis associa ted with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is described. T-2-weighted MR I demonstrated a high-intensity lesion involving the deep white matter of the right cerebellar hemisphere, which mas not enhanced on injecti on of gadolinium. Brain perfusion scintigraphy revealed hypoperfusion in the bilateral cerebellar hemisphere. Polymerase chain reaction anal ysis using in M. pneumoniae-specific printers failed to reveal the exi stence of the M. pneumoniae genome in cerebrospinal fluid. Conversely, serum antibodies to gangliosides (GM1, GM2, and GT1b) were detected, suggesting a mycoplasma-related neurologic disorder mediated by an imm unologic mechanism. These findings support the hypothesis that vasculo pathy and demyelination caused by an immunologic mechanism play an imp ortant role in the pathogeneses of neurologic disorders associated wit h ill pneumoniae infection. (C) 1998 by Elsevier Science Inc. All righ ts reserved.