Viral encephalitis differential diagnosis
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
|
Viral encephalitis Microchapters |
|
Diagnosis |
|---|
|
Treatment |
|
Case Studies |
|
Viral encephalitis differential diagnosis On the Web |
|
American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Viral encephalitis differential diagnosis |
|
Risk calculators and risk factors for Viral encephalitis differential diagnosis |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Priyamvada Singh, MBBS [2]; Anthony Gallo, B.S. [3]
Overview
Encephalitis must be differentiated from other neurologic diseases such as brain abscess, meningitis, status epilepticus, and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Differential Diagnosis
Complete Differential Diagnosis of the Causes of Encephalitis
| Diseases | Diagnostic tests | Physical Examination | Symptoms | Past medical history | Other Findings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Na+, K+, Ca2+ | CT /MRI | CSF Findings | Gold standard test | Neck stiffness | Motor or Sensory deficit | Papilledema | Bulging fontanelle | Cranial nerves | Headache | Fever | Altered mental status | |||
| Brain tumour[1][2] | ✔ | Cancer cells[3] | MRI | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Cachexia, gradual progression of symptoms | ||||
| Delirium tremens | ✔ | Clinical diagnosis | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Alcohol intake, sudden witdrawl or reduction in consumption | Tachycardia, diaphoresis, hypertension, tremors, mydriasis, positional nystagmus, | ||||
| Subarachnoid hemorrhage[4] | ✔ | Xanthochromia[5] | CT scan without contrast[6][7] | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Trauma/fall | Confusion, dizziness, nausea, vomiting | |
| Stroke | ✔ | Normal | CT scan without contrast | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | TIAs, hypertension, diabetes mellitus | Speech difficulty, gait abnormality | ||||
| Neurosyphilis[8][9] | ✔ | ↑ Leukocytes and protein | CSF VDRL-specifc
CSF FTA-Ab -sensitive[10] |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Unprotected sexual intercourse, STIs | Blindness, confusion, depression,
Abnormal gait | |||
| Viral encephalitis | ✔ | Increased RBCS or xanthochromia, mononuclear lymphocytosis, high protein content, normal glucose | Clinical assesment | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Tick bite/mosquito bite/ viral prodome for several days | Extreme lethargy, rash hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, behavioural changes | ||
| Herpes simplex encephalitis | ✔ | Clinical assesment | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of hypertension | Delirium, cortical blindness, cerebral edema, seizure | |||||
| Wernicke’s encephalopathy | Normal | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of alcohal abuse | Ophthalmoplegia, confusion | ||||||||
| CNS abscess | ✔ | ↑ leukocytes >100,000/ul, ↓ glucose and ↑ protien, ↑ red blood cells, lactic acid >500mg | Contrast enhanced MRI is more sensitive and specific,
Histopathological examination of brain tissue |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of drug abuse, endocarditis, ↓ immune status | High grade fever, fatigue,nausea, vomiting | ||
| Drug toxicity | ✔ | ✔ | Lithium, Sedatives, phenytoin, carbamazepine | |||||||||||
| Conversion disorder | Diagnosis of exclusion | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Tremors, blindness, difficulty swallowing | |||||||
| Electrolyte disturbance | ↓ or ↑ | Depends on the cause | ✔ | ✔ | Confusion, seizures | |||||||||
| Febrile convulsion | Not performed in first simple febrile seizures | Clinical diagnosis and EEG | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Family history of febrile seizures, viral illness or gastroenteritis | Age > 1 month, | ||||||
| Subdural empyema | ✔ | Clinical assesment and MRI | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of relapses and remissions | Blurry vision, urinary incontinence, fatigue | ||||
| Hypoglycemia | ↓ or ↑ | Serum blood glucose | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of diabetes | Palpitations, sweating, dizziness, low serum, glucose | |||||||
(By organ system)
| Cardiovascular | No underlying causes |
| Chemical / poisoning | No underlying causes |
| Dermatologic | No underlying causes |
| Drug Side Effect | No underlying causes |
| Ear Nose Throat | No underlying causes |
| Endocrine | No underlying causes |
| Environmental | No underlying causes |
| Gastroenterologic | No underlying causes |
| Genetic | No underlying causes |
| Hematologic | No underlying causes |
| Iatrogenic | No underlying causes |
| Infectious Disease | Herpes Simplex, Cat Scratch Disease, Leptospirosis, Tick-borne diseases, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Toxoplasmosis |
| Musculoskeletal / Ortho | No underlying causes |
| Neurologic | Brain Abscess, Herpes Simplex Encephalitis, Meningitis, Status epilepticus, Subarachnoid hemorrhage |
| Nutritional / Metabolic | Hypoglycemia |
| Obstetric/Gynecologic | No underlying causes |
| Oncologic | No underlying causes |
| Opthalmologic | No underlying causes |
| Overdose / Toxicity | No underlying causes |
| Psychiatric | No underlying causes |
| Pulmonary | Tuberculosis |
| Renal / Electrolyte | No underlying causes |
| Rheum / Immune / Allergy | Systemic Lupus Erythematosus |
| Sexual | No underlying causes |
| Trauma | No underlying causes |
| Urologic | No underlying causes |
| Miscellaneous | No underlying causes |
References
- ↑ Soffer D (1976) Brain tumors simulating purulent meningitis. Eur Neurol 14 (3):192-7. PMID: 1278192
- ↑
- ↑ Weston CL, Glantz MJ, Connor JR (2011). "Detection of cancer cells in the cerebrospinal fluid: current methods and future directions". Fluids Barriers CNS. 8 (1): 14. doi:10.1186/2045-8118-8-14. PMC 3059292. PMID 21371327.
- ↑ Yeh ST, Lee WJ, Lin HJ, Chen CY, Te AL, Lin HJ (2003) Nonaneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage secondary to tuberculous meningitis: report of two cases. J Emerg Med 25 (3):265-70. PMID: 14585453
- ↑ Lee MC, Heaney LM, Jacobson RL, Klassen AC (1975). "Cerebrospinal fluid in cerebral hemorrhage and infarction". Stroke. 6 (6): 638–41. PMID 1198628.
- ↑ Birenbaum D, Bancroft LW, Felsberg GJ (2011). "Imaging in acute stroke". West J Emerg Med. 12 (1): 67–76. PMC 3088377. PMID 21694755.
- ↑ DeLaPaz RL, Wippold FJ, Cornelius RS, Amin-Hanjani S, Angtuaco EJ, Broderick DF; et al. (2011). "ACR Appropriateness Criteria® on cerebrovascular disease". J Am Coll Radiol. 8 (8): 532–8. doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2011.05.010. PMID 21807345.
- ↑ Liu LL, Zheng WH, Tong ML, Liu GL, Zhang HL, Fu ZG; et al. (2012). "Ischemic stroke as a primary symptom of neurosyphilis among HIV-negative emergency patients". J Neurol Sci. 317 (1–2): 35–9. doi:10.1016/j.jns.2012.03.003. PMID 22482824.
- ↑ Berger JR, Dean D (2014). "Neurosyphilis". Handb Clin Neurol. 121: 1461–72. doi:10.1016/B978-0-7020-4088-7.00098-5. PMID 24365430.
- ↑ Ho EL, Marra CM (2012). "Treponemal tests for neurosyphilis--less accurate than what we thought?". Sex Transm Dis. 39 (4): 298–9. doi:10.1097/OLQ.0b013e31824ee574. PMC 3746559. PMID 22421697.