title: Case report of subacute cerebellar ataxia of adolescence with long-term sequelae.
abstract: Acute ataxia is not an uncommon childhood complaint. It most commonly occurs in young patients secondary to a postinfectious cerebellitis, which is typically associated with a very good prognosis and recovery. In adolescence, acute cerebellar ataxia is more often the product of an etiology likely to progress into a chronic disorder without recovery to preillness baseline. In the present case, the authors describe a 15-year-old girl with subacute cerebellar ataxia of presumed immune-mediated etiology that advanced into a chronic cerebellar ataxia. Due to a family history, celiac disease was suspected as the origin of the ataxia; biopsy ruled out enteropathy, and the severe, abrupt radiological changes to the patient's cerebellum are inconsistent with the reported sequelae of gluten ataxia. This case serves as a discussion for diagnostic challenges in adolescent patients with acute cerebellar ataxia with long-term sequelae as well as providing an adjunct discussion on the neurological complications of celiac disease.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Neurology and Pediatrics, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Stowe
authors.forename: Shefali
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karkare
authors.forename: Vinay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Puri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002524:Cerebellar Ataxia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging