Laboratory, electrophysiological and radiological findings of patients with Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis
| BBE | Other* (n=50) | p Value† (total BBE vs other) | |||
| Total (n=37) | Definite (n=19) | Probable (n=18) | |||
| Serum antiganglioside antibody (IgG) | |||||
| Anti-GQ1b (n (%)) | 24/32 (75) | 19 (100) | 5/13 (38) | 0/19 | <0.001 |
| Anti-GM1 (n (%)) | 2/33 (6.1) | 1 (5.3) | 1/14 (7.1) | 0/18 | NS |
| CSF | |||||
| Cell count (/mm) (median (range)) | 5 (1–214) | 5 (1–214) | 9 (2–169) | 12 (0–9420) | NS |
| ≦5/mm (n (%)) | 16/29 (56) | 10/16 (42) | 6/13 (46) | 15/36 (42) | NS |
| 6–10/mm3 (n (%)) | 1/29 (3.4) | 0 | 1/13 (7.7) | 2/36 (5.6) | |
| 11–50/mm3 (n (%)) | 6/29 (21) | 5/16 (31) | 1/13 (7.7) | 11/36 (31) | |
| 51–100/mm3 (n (%)) | 3/29 (10) | 0/16 | 3/13 (23) | 2/36 (5.6) | |
| >100/mm3 (n (%)) | 3/29 (10) | 1/16 (6.3) | 2/13 (15) | 6/36 (16.7) | |
| Protein (mg/dl) (median (range)) | 37 (13–400) | 28 (17–72) | 59 (13–400) | 54 (14–549) | NS |
| Elevated (≧45 mg/dl) (n (%)) | 11/29 (38) | 2/16 (13) | 9/13 (69) | 24/36 (67) | 0.02 |
| Albuminocytological dissociation (n (%)) | 4/29 (14) | 1/16 (6.3) | 3/13 (23) | 7/36 (19) | NS |
| EEG abnormality (n (%)) | 10/20 (50) | 4/8 (50) | 6/12 (50) | 13/23 (57) | NS |
| NCS abnormality (n (%)) | 11/29 (38) | 5/15 (33) | 6/14 (43) | 10/20 (50) | NS |
| Brain MRI abnormality (n (%)) | 8/35 (23) | 1/17 (5.9) | 7/18 (39) | 29/50 (58) | 0.02 |
↵* Patients who met the criteria for brainstem encephalitis described in the text, but not the criteria for BBE (box 1).
↵† Differences in frequencies between the groups were analysed using the χ2 or Fisher's exact test. Differences in medians were examined by the Mann–Whitney U test.
BBE, Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis; NCS, nerve conduction study.