Initial manifestation of psychiatric symptoms in patients with anti-LGI1 encephalitis may be a poor prognostic factor, at least in the short term, in that it misleads both the patients and the clinicians to neglect the typically accompanied symptoms of the disease such as faciobrachial dystonic seizure, delaying the timing of immune therapy.
Autoantibodies directed against ion channels or associated proteins, such as K(+) channels, LGI1 or NMDA receptors, have been identified in epileptic disorders that can largely be included under the term limbic encephalitis which includes limbic seizures, status epilepticus and psychiatric symptoms.