New clinical criteria defines acute-onset neuropsychiatric symptoms

A working group has proposed a set of criteria to define a newly named entity-pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS)-the most important of which is an abrupt, dramatic onset of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms.

The new entity describes a syndrome broader in scope than the clinically similar pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) and pediatric infection-triggered autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders (PITANDS), both of which rely on a preceding infection for diagnosis. In contrast, PANS encompasses neuropsychiatric syndromes with both infectious and noninfectious triggers.

Based on clinical data from 400 children and adolescents who had been diagnosed with PANDAS, the group proposed diagnostic criteria for PANS:

Swedo SE, Leckman JF, Rose NR. From research subgroup to clinical syndrome: modifying the PANDAS criteria to describe PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome). Pediatr Therapeut. 2012;2(2):113. doi: 10.4172/2161-0665.1000113.