Community-acquired systemic infection complicated with rhombencephalitis.

Rhombencephalitis is a rapidly progressing disease that should be taken into consideration in a patient with abrupt onset of cerebellar ataxia with rapid neurologic deterioration (tetraparesis, coma) after vascular etiology has been ruled out.

GFAP and antibodies against NMDA receptor subunit NR2 as biomarkers for acute cerebrovascular diseases.

We studied whether the serum levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and of antibodies against the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor subunit NR2 (NR2 RNMDA ) can discriminate between intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) and ischaemic stroke (IS) in stroke patients. We prospectively recruited patients with suspected stroke (72 confirmed) and 52 healthy controls. The type of brain lesion (ICH or IS) was established using brain imaging.