Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis ADEM

Altered mental status is a pre-requisite for the diagnosis of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), often a consequence of non-CNS infection or immunization (Tenembaum et al., 2007) The disorder is the subject of a complete chapter in this book, so this discussion wiU be limited to the mechanisms of brain injury as it pertains to encephalopathies mediated by brain inflammation. There is excellent evidence to suggest that the brain injury is primarily immune mediated and therefore inflammatory in nature. Antigenic similarities between the viral antigens... 

An 83-year-old Hispanic woman had altered consciousness, fever and weakness 8 days following influenza vaccination. After alternative diagnoses, including infectious and non-infectious aetiologies, were excluded, a diagnosis of post-vaccination acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) was made, and the author felt that there was a reasonable temporal relationship between vaccination and presentation with symptoms to support causality [31 ]. 

ADEM acute disseminated encephalomyelitis is an immune mediated disease of brain. It is brief but significant and results in direct myelin damage. It usually occurs following a viral infection or vaccination (commonly for measles, mumps or rubella), but it may also appear spontaneously. 

ADEM acute disseminated encephalomyelitis AT adoptive transfer... 

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