Unique pediatric evaluation targets relevant autoimmune/CNS antibodies: Andrew McKeon, M.B., B.Ch., M.D.

(00:31) Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?(01:15) Can you give us a little understanding of this disease state and why a tailored evaluation for pediatric patients is important?(02:47) What makes it more challenging to diagnose a pediatric autoimmune neurological disorder?(03:32) Is the tailored evaluation necessary because different antibodies are evaluated?(04:08) How common are these disorders in pediatric patients?(04:40) How does our assay for adults differ from the pediatric assay?(05:17) Do we evaluate for the ANNA-1 paraneoplastic antibody in both children and adults?(05:59) Are our decisions on which antibodies to include based on our clinical experience? (06:46) Which patients would this kind of testing be appropriate for?(07:29) Should antibody testing be ordered early in the process of differential diagnosis?(08:29) Do other disorders mimic these autoimmune disorders?(09:00) What do test results mean in terms of next steps for physicians and patients?(09:55) What are the most critical antibodies to test for in this pediatric population?(10:30) Is it important for physicians to send both serum and CSF samples?(10:48) In what specimen type is MOG most readily detected?(11:18) What are the repercussions of not using a tailored evaluation?(13:04) Do we use any patterns we see in test results to build future evaluations?(14:15) Does a tailored evaluation mean faster test results?(15:21) Are there any other key takeaways that you want to share with physicians to help them understand the importance of this evaluation and how it can be used in their clinical practices?