Prognostic significance and extra-hypothalamus dysfunction of hyponatremia in anti-leucine-rich glioma-inactivated protein 1 encephalitis

This study aimed to investigate prognostic significance and brain metabolic mechanism of hyponatremia in anti-leucine-rich glioma-inactivated protein 1 (LGI1) encephalitis. After adjusting for confounders, patients with moderate and severe hyponatremia had significantly increased risk of poor functional outcome and sequelae of seizures. In addition, serum sodium was negatively correlated with normalized ratio of the standardized uptake value of medial temporal lobe (MTL), basal ganglia (BG), and hypothalamus on positron emission tomography (PET) and which was further validated using voxel-wise analysis, suggesting an extra-hypothalamus (BG and MTL) localization for hyponatremia. [Display omitted] •Hyponatremia is a common early finding in anti-LGI1 encephalitis.•Hyponatremia may be a potential predictor of outcome for anti-LGI1 encephalitis.•There exists extra-hypothalamus mechanism for hyponatremia in anti-LGI1 encephalitis.