Our Services

Neuroimmunology Clinic

Description of Services

The Neuroimmunology Clinic at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC is a subspecialty clinic supported by the Division of Child Neurology for the diagnosis, education, and treatment of children with acquired inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) due to immune-mediated mechanisms. The team includes a pediatric neurologist with special expertise in acute inflammatory disorders of the CNS, a clinical nurse, a physical therapist, a research coordinator, and a social worker. The team often includes residents from both pediatric and adult neurology.

The clinic offers patients clinical care for a group of disorders called acute demyelinating disorders, including childhood-onset multiple sclerosis as well as other inflammatory diseases of the brain and spinal cord. Each patient receives a comprehensive history and physical examination and a detailed neurological examination. MRI scans (sequential in many cases) are extensively reviewed and compared. Each patient will have the opportunity to be enrolled in the Pittsburgh Pediatric Demyelinating Cohort Study, which allows them to be followed prospectively and contacted in the future for research and educational opportunities.

The acute demyelinating syndromes include the following disorders characterized by inflammation and demyelination:

multiple sclerosis
acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)
acute transverse myelitis
optic neuritis
neuromyelitis optica (Devic’s disease)
clinically isolated syndromes

Other autoimmune inflammatory CNS disorders include the following:

primary CNS vasculitis
steroid responsive encephalitis associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (SREAT; also called Hashimoto encephalitis)
paraneoplastic and non-neoplastic autoimmune encephalitis