How to examine encephalitis? What are the examination methods for encephalitis?

Encephalitis refers to an inflammatory lesion caused by the invasion of brain parenchyma by pathogens. Caused by many reasons, encephalitis poses a great threat to human health. So what are the methods to check for encephalitis?

1. Neurological examination

Whether there is visual impairment, optic disc edema, eye muscle paralysis, hearing loss, dysphagia, limb paralysis, pathological reflexes, changes in muscle tone, ataxia, involuntary movements (tremor, choreiform movements, athetosis), sensory impairment, urinary and fecal retention, incontinence and meningeal irritation signs, etc.

2. Auxiliary examination

(1) General examinations include routine blood and urine tests, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, cerebrospinal fluid pressure, routine tests, biochemistry, cytology, immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA, IgM) tests, and blood mixed rosette rate test.

(2) Electrophysiological examination: electroencephalogram (EEG) and brain evoked (visual, auditory, and somatosensory) potentials.

(3) Imaging examination: brain CT or MRI examination.

(4) Immunological examination of viral infection: ELISA or PCR method is used to detect herpes simplex virus in blood and cerebrospinal fluid. Duplicate serum was taken for complement fixation test, hemagglutination inhibition test, adenovirus immunofluorescence test, and poliomyelitis neutralization test for epidemic encephalitis B, adenovirus, measles virus, poliomyelitis, influenza virus, etc.

(5) Brain biopsy, immunofluorescence examination, and pathological histological examination.