The first reported case, a 53-year-old female, presented with short-term memory loss, and was treated initially for Alzheimer's disease, later developing typical symptoms of limbic encephalitis with rapid alteration of consciousness, accompanied by seizures and discrete temporal lobe signal change on MRI. The second case was a 38-year-old male with rapidly progressing amnesia and behavioural disturbances.
Development of epileptic seizures, typical medial temporal lobe signal change on MRI and abnormal increase of antibodies against voltage-gated potassium channels confirmed a diagnosis of limbic encephalitis. Both cases improved after corticosteroid therapy.
No paraneoplastic origin was found in either case. We discuss the most usual signs and symptoms of limbic encephalitis, focusing on recent classification, diagnostics and treatment of this often under-diagnosed disorder.