IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE TREATMENT FOR MENINGOENCEPHALITIS

摘要

Inflammation the brain or meningoencephalitis may develop secondary to an infectious etiology (virus, parasite, protozoa, bacteria, fungal organism) or as an idiopathic inflammatory condition. In dogs, a number of idiopathic encephalitides have been reported and a definitive diagnosis is made based on histopathology. The term meningoencephalitis of unknown etiology (MUE) has been proposed as a collective term for granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis (GME), necrotizing meningoencephalitis (NME) andnecrotizing leukoencephalitis (NLE) and other noninfectious encephalitides when a histopathologic diagnosis has not been made. The pathogenesis for MUE is suspected to be autoimmune or immune mediated and many patients will improve with immunosuppression. The diagnosis is presumptive after the exclusion of infectious causes or based on a high index of suspicion due to breed, imaging findings and/or cerebrospinal fluid analysis. Without aggressive treatment, prognosis and median survival is poor. Immunosuppressive therapy appear to offer the patient the longest survival time; however treatment for MUE is still subjective and more research is needed to determine the optimal medication regimen.