Rasmussen Encephalitis
- * Rasmussen encephalitis is a rare, chronic progressive inflammatory condition (believed to be an autoimmune condition) that is restricted to one hemisphere.
- It manifests with refractory focal seizures and focal status epilepticus (epilepsia partialis continua) with progressive brain atrophy and resultant deterioration of neurological function from that hemisphere (weakness, cognitive dysfunction, etc…) that begins within 6 months of the onset of the seizures.
- On imaging, there is unilateral atrophy with thinning of the insular cortex and hydrocephalus ex vacuo of one side of the brain.