Case Report: Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis With Bilateral Hearing Loss as the Initial Symptom.

Anti--methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune disease associated with the NMDA receptor. This paper describes a patient who presented with bilateral hearing loss as the initial symptom of anti-NMDAR encephalitis. We describe a 31-year-old young female with anti-NMDAR encephalitis who presented with bilateral severe hearing loss after brief loss of consciousness and then accompanied by other symptoms, such as generalized tonic-clonic seizures, manic episodes, excessive salivation, severe cognitive impairment, and complex non-convulsive status epilepticus. Great improvement was achieved by a combined treatment of steroid, IVIG, and plasmapheresis, especially after surgical removal of the ovarian teratoma. When she was discharged on hospital day 43, her hearing loss obtained a significant improvement. This case study and literature review investigated the impairment of hearing loss and its subsequent treatment in patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis.