[Quantitative clinical assessment of the course in a case of temporal encephalitis (author's transl)]

Abstract

The neuropsychiatric symptoms and signs of a case of sporadic encephalitis are presented. Psychopathological features are assessed with the IMPS (Lorr-scale). This is shown to be useful for objectivation and differentiation of the psychopathological syndrome. A disadvantage of the IMPS is the limited applicability in states with disturbed verbal communication and insufficient recording of mnestic impairment. Of the 4 states of activation defined for patterns of horizontal and vertical EOG and EMG recordings, state 2 (i.e., electrical activity of the mentalis-EMG, no blinks, no rapid lateral eye movements) and state 4 (i.e., rapid lateral eye movements, electrical activation of the mentalis-EMG) are appropriate measures for a quantitative description of the course of the disease. The relative distribution of state 2 and 4 within one period of registration indicates that the decrease of state 2 and the increase of state 4 are highly correlated with the reduction of psychopathological symptoms. Furthermore, transition among states shows the same correlation during the course of the disease. The ratio of the total number of transitions and non-transitions within one period of registration is proportional to the alleviation of clinical signs.